The Elder Futhark is the oldest runic alphabet, twenty four letters used across Germanic Europe from roughly the second century to the eighth, arranged in three groups called aettir. It is the row that turns up on real inscriptions, which is why it is the one worth having cut into something. This archive gathers everything in the catalogue that carries it, and it is easily the most varied tag on the site.
Where the row appears
On steel there is a Damascus bearded axe on a 16 inch walnut haft with a brass rune collar, a bearded hatchet with a rune line down the walnut haft, a ball pein blacksmith hammer with the row cut into the shank above an ash grip, a Norse war hammer with a rune cut head, a rune sword at 38 inches with a sawtooth spine, a rune etched rapier at 42 inches with a swept steel hilt, a Damascus kukri with a runed steel pommel and a Damascus tanto with the row on walnut scales. On armour there is a blackened great helm with brass rune cross vision slits, a blackened scale shirt with a rune plaque, a conical shield boss and fitting kit with a rune ring engraving, and leather bracers with the row embossed and three steel roller buckles. Away from the steel there is a carved bone comb with knotwork, a walnut and maple hnefatafl board with an Elder Futhark border, a set of twenty four engraved slate casting stones in a leather pouch with a guide card, a standing slate rune stone at 10 inches on a solid oak base, a full grain leather belt with the row stamped into it, and a vegvisir pendant on a leather cord. Prices run from 99 dollars to 499 dollars.
Reading the row
Each rune is a letter and a name, and the names carry meanings that later writers built on. Our page on the Elder Futhark sets out all twenty four with what the sources actually say, which is the honest starting point before you have anything cut. For the inscriptions themselves, runestones explained covers what was written on real stones and why. Casting sets and carved stones are in runestones and rune sets, and the belts, bracers and smaller pieces are in accessories.
Ransack Viking is a US company based in Memphis, Tennessee. These pieces are handmade in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from Memphis. Engraving is done in the US after arrival: text 19 dollars, symbol 39 dollars, family crest 49 dollars.
Free US shipping
On most pieces. Heavier and oversized ones carry a flat charge.
Hand Forged
Heated, hammered and ground by hand.
Engraving available
Names, dates or Norse runes on most pieces.
