Thor's Hammers

Why the hammer is short in the handle

The story is in Skaldskaparmal. Loki, having cut off Sif's hair and needing to fix the problem before Thor found out, gets the dwarves competing over who can make the finest treasures. Brokkr and his brother Eitri are working the forge when Loki turns himself into a fly and bites Brokkr on the eyelid. Brokkr lets go of the bellows for a moment to swat him. The hammer comes out of the fire with the handle too short, and that flaw is written into every depiction of Mjolnir since.

What the myth describes is a hammer that always hits its mark, always returns to the hand, and can be shrunk small enough to carry inside a shirt. That last detail matters, because it explains the pendants. Hammer amulets are among the most common Norse metal finds across Scandinavia and the Danelaw, small cast or forged hammers worn on a cord at the throat, and they appear in quantity at exactly the period when the cross was spreading. People wore the thing their god carried.

Physically, a short haft on a heavy head does something specific. It puts all of the mass right at the end of a short lever, so the hammer is slow to swing and enormously heavy at the point of contact. It is a close range shape. That is also why a Thor's hammer sits well in a display: the proportions are wrong for elegance and right for weight, and the eye reads it as solid.

Everything on this page follows that proportion. The hafted pieces run 15 to 24 inches with blocky squared heads. Nothing here has the long thin haft of a working forge hammer, and nothing here pretends to be one.

The pieces in this collection

Eight pieces, and they are not all the same kind of object. Six are hafted hammers, one is a pendant on a chain and one is a keyring.

Hafted hammers in 1095 high carbon

Three of these, all with heads hardened to 54 to 58 HRC and all cut with runes.

The longest is approximately 24 inches overall, with a squared block head carrying two flat faces and a forged hammer texture left visible on the steel. A vertical line of Elder Futhark runes is cut into the face. The haft is hardwood under a dark leather wrap with a polished steel collar, and a fitted leather head cover is included.

The short Mjolnir is approximately 16 inches overall, which is the closest thing here to the proportion in the myth. Squared Mjolnir block head with chamfered corners and polished faces, runes cut across the face, and the haft is vegetable tanned tan leather with a steel butt cap and a wrist loop. It ships with a matching rune tooled leather head cover.

The polished rune cut hammer sits on a straight ash haft with a steel throat collar and a steel butt ferrule, with a leather wrist lanyard knotted through the butt. Two cut lines of Elder Futhark runes run across the head. Shaped leather head cover included.

Hafted hammers in Damascus

Two pieces, both pattern welded 1095 and 15N20 at 58 to 60 HRC, both acid etched so the layers read across the steel.

The rosewood hafted hammer has twin flat striking faces with waisted cheeks and polished chamfers. The haft is rosewood with pinned brass strips, a brass bolster and a turned brass pommel, and a shaped leather head cover comes with it. Brass against dark rosewood and etched Damascus is the warmest looking combination on the page.

The ladder pattern Mjolnir is approximately 15 inches overall, the shortest of the hafted pieces. The pattern is a bold ladder and ring figure carried through every face of the head rather than only on the sides, which is harder to achieve and much more obvious in the hand. Squared Mjolnir block with chamfered corners and two flat faces, black leather haft with a wrist loop, and a polished steel ferrule cut with interlaced knotwork.

The forge textured war hammer

One piece stands apart. Hand forged steel head with the forge texture deliberately left on it, double faced and waisted through the eye, approximately 6 inches across the head, on a walnut haft of approximately 19 inches wedged from the top. The collar is blackened steel engraved with lozenge knotwork, the grip is a black leather wrap whipped with cord at both ends, and it comes with a brown leather belt hanger on a snap stud. It is the only piece here you can hang from a belt at an event.

Mjolnir to wear and to carry

The pendant is polished stainless steel, not plated and not sterling silver, which matters because it will not tarnish, will not mark skin and is safe in the shower and in salt air. Approximately 2 inches tall including the bail, with a flared head, a scrolled shaft and a Celtic knotwork bail, on a matching heavy curb chain of approximately 24 inches with a lobster clasp. It arrives in a soft drawstring pouch.

The keyring is a miniature set in Damascus, hardened and hand etched. A bearded axe of about two and a half inches and a matching hammer of about two and a quarter inches, both on wedged ash handles, with a Mjolnir cut into the cheek of the axe head. They hang from a heavy steel split ring on a short chain with a leather press stud fob, and the complete set weighs approximately 1.6 oz.

Sizes, steel and fittings across the range

Every figure below is taken from a listing on this page. These are forged and finished by hand, so lengths are approximate.

The 24 inch hammer and the 15 inch hammer are different objects for different rooms. At 24 inches the piece reads across a hall and needs a proper wall mount. At 15 or 16 inches it sits on a shelf or a desk and can be picked up by anyone who walks past, which is usually what happens.

What these are for, stated plainly

Three of these listings say it in the specification panel and the rest are the same in practice. These are display, collection and ceremonial pieces. They are not sparring gear and they are not test cutting tools.

The reason is not that the steel is poor. It is that a hard steel block on a short haft, swung at a hard target, transmits an enormous shock into the collar, the wedge and your wrist, and hardened steel at 58 to 60 HRC can chip rather than deform when it meets something equally hard. Hit a tree with one of these and you will damage the hammer, the tree and possibly yourself.

What they do well is sit on a wall, weigh convincingly in the hand, hand over at a wedding or a naming, and photograph without any help. The belt hanger on the walnut hafted piece makes it the practical choice for wearing at an event, where it will get carried rather than swung.

Steel and hardness

Two steels and no others. Plain 1095 high carbon is hardened to 54 to 58 HRC. That is a tough working band, hard enough to keep crisp corners and edges on a cut rune line, soft enough to take a knock without cracking.

Damascus here is 1095 and 15N20 forge welded and acid etched, hardened to 58 to 60 HRC. The 15N20 carries enough nickel to resist the acid, and that difference in etch rate is what makes the light and dark banding visible. On the ladder pattern piece the figure is carried through every face of the head, which takes more forging than a pattern that only shows on two sides.

Neither steel is stainless. The pendant is the exception, in polished stainless that will not tarnish or mark skin. Read our notes on steel and hardness and what Damascus steel actually is if you want the background.

Hafts, collars and covers

Ash and walnut are the two woods here, and they behave differently. Ash is springy and light with long straight fibres. Walnut is denser, darker and holds carved detail better. Rosewood, used on one piece, is oily and close grained enough to polish up on its own and resist moisture without a finish.

Leather hafts are a different proposition. Vegetable tanned leather wrapped over a core gives a warm grip that takes hand oils and darkens with use, and it is the traditional look for a short Mjolnir. It also needs occasional conditioning, unlike wood.

Collars and ferrules do real work. The collar at the top of the haft takes the shock that would otherwise split the wood, and the butt ferrule stops the end of the haft from bruising when the hammer is stood upright. Most of these are steel, one is blackened and engraved, and one piece uses brass throughout.

Almost every hafted piece here ships with a shaped leather head cover. Use it for transport and for handling, not for permanent storage, because leather holds moisture against steel.

Care and storage

The carbon steel heads will rust if you let them. Wipe the head after handling, keep a light film of oil on the polished faces, and keep the piece off a damp wall or an exterior masonry surface. Fingerprints are the usual culprit, because sweat is mildly acidic and etches a print into a polished face within days.

Grey patina is stable and harmless. Orange spotting lifts with a fine abrasive and oil. On an etched Damascus head, be careful with abrasives, because polishing hard enough to remove rust also removes the etch and flattens the contrast.

Oil the wooden hafts once or twice a year. Condition the leather ones with a balm two or three times a year, worked in and buffed off. Keep everything out of dry heat, because a haft that dries out shrinks and a wedged head starts to move.

The stainless pendant needs none of this. Warm water, a soft cloth and nothing else.

Engraving

Most heads here already carry cut Elder Futhark rune lines or knotwork worked into the steel and the collars during making. Additional personalisation is done in the United States after arrival. Text engraving is 19 dollars, symbol engraving is 39 dollars and a family crest is 49 dollars.

On a hammer the flat cheek of the head is the obvious surface, and on the pendant the reverse face takes a short name or a date. Elder Futhark is a phonetic alphabet rather than a cipher, so a name is transliterated by sound, and there is no rune for the letter C. Our Elder Futhark guide covers it, and the meaning of Mjolnir is worth reading before you commit a symbol to steel.

Engraving is permanent and an engraved piece cannot be returned. Send the exact spelling and read it twice.

Where these come from and how they ship

Ransack Viking is a US company based in Chicago, Illinois. The pieces are handmade in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from Chicago. Engraving is done in the US after arrival.

Because every head is forged and finished by hand, no two are identical. The exact figure of a Damascus etch, the depth of a cut rune, the colour of a leather wrap and the grain of a haft all vary. Listed lengths are approximate for the same reason.

How to choose

If the hammer is going on a wall in a large room, take the 24 inch rune cut piece. It has the presence to carry a wall on its own.

If it is going on a shelf, a desk or a mantel, take one of the shorter Mjolnir hammers at 15 or 16 inches. Those are the pieces people pick up, and both are built to be picked up.

If the pattern in the steel is the point, take one of the two Damascus hammers, and take the ladder pattern one if you want the figure visible from every angle rather than only from the sides.

If you are going to carry it at an event, take the walnut hafted piece with the belt hanger. And if you want Mjolnir on you rather than on a wall, the stainless pendant is the one that survives daily wear without any care at all.

Browse related categories

• Viking hammers across the full range
• Maces and other hafted striking pieces
• Mjolnir pendants in Damascus and steel
• Norse pendants and stave jewellery
• Blacksmith hammers built to work
• Bearded axes in 1095 and Damascus
• Wedding and groomsmen gifts
• Norse home decor and wall pieces

Guides worth reading first

• Mjolnir and what the hammer meant
• A guide to the Norse gods
• Viking symbols and what they actually mean
• Mace, war hammer and flail compared
• Elder Futhark runes and how names transliterate
• What Damascus steel actually is
• Thor in Norse myth, beyond the hammer