A rune engraved sword carries characters from one of the runic alphabets cut into the blade, the fuller or the guard. Real Viking Age swords did carry inscriptions, though usually maker names in Latin letters inlaid into the fuller rather than runic magic. Runes on blades do exist in the archaeology, and they are rarer and stranger than the market suggests.
What is on this tag
Viking swords around 36 inches overall with Elder Futhark rune rows along the fuller, brass hilted arming swords at 37 inches with 30 inch blades, 1095 carbon steel Viking swords with blade inscriptions, and Norse swords at 36 inches with 30 inch blades and bone white grips. Steel is plain 1095 high carbon at 54 to 58 HRC or Damascus of 1095 and 15N20, forge welded and acid etched, at 58 to 60 HRC. Pommels are five lobed, wheel and disc, and guards are straight or arched.
Elder or Younger Futhark
The Elder Futhark has twenty four characters and belongs to the migration period, running into the early Viking Age. The Younger Futhark, cut down to sixteen, is what Scandinavians actually used through the Viking Age proper. Elder is more recognizable and less accurate. Younger is more accurate and harder to read. Either is defensible as long as you know which one you have chosen. The rune guide lists every character, its name and its sound.
What real inscriptions say
Mostly practical things. Who raised the stone, who died, who paid. The mystical reading of runes is largely a nineteenth and twentieth century overlay, and knowing that makes the real material more interesting rather than less, which the runestone article covers. Rune engraving here is 39 dollars and it is done in the US after arrival. The Norse blades are in the Viking swords and the full marked range in the engraved and personalized.
Where the marking sits
On a sword the fuller is the obvious surface, since it is flat, long and already the visual center of the blade. The guard takes short marks well. The pommel takes almost nothing legible. Keep the cut bold rather than fine, because a shallow hairline fills with oil and disappears within a few years of handling.
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.
