A personalized engraved knife is a blade with somebody’s name cut into it. That is the whole idea. The phrase gets typed by people buying for a wedding party, a retirement, a fiftieth birthday, or a father who already owns four knives and will happily take a fifth if it has his initials on the bolster. The only thing that really matters is that the engraving sits on a blade worth keeping.
What actually carries the engraving
Most blades under this tag are Damascus of 1095 and 15N20, forge welded and acid etched, hardened to 58 to 60 HRC. A smaller group is plain 1095 high carbon at 54 to 58 HRC, which takes a deeper cut and holds a cleaner line. Shapes run from folding pocket knives with blades around 2.75 to 4 inches up through skinners, daggers, camp knives and bowies at 7 or 8 inches, with overall lengths from roughly 7.5 inches to 13. Handles are stag horn, rosewood, walnut, buffalo horn, camel bone and stabilized resin, so there is nearly always a flat, a spacer or a brass bolster that will hold text without fighting the grain. Fixed blades ship in a stitched cowhide sheath.
Placement, price and the boring practical part
Short text on the blade or bolster is 19 dollars. A symbol, a rune row or a knotwork band is 39 dollars. A family crest is 49 dollars. Ransack Viking is a US company based in Chicago, Illinois. Pieces are handmade in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from Chicago. Engraving is done in the US after arrival, which is why a name can go on late without adding weeks to the wait. If you want the full range of marked pieces rather than knives alone, the engraved and personalized shelf also carries axes, swords and drinking gear. The engraving page shows what fits on a bolster and what does not, since a long quote on a 3 inch folder ends up unreadable. For the blades themselves, start with the Damascus knives if you want pattern, or the folding pocket knives if the gift needs to live in a pocket rather than a display case.
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.
