A war hammer answers a problem an edge cannot solve. Against mail or plate a cutting blade slides or binds, but concentrated mass on a small face transmits straight through. That is why the shape survived into the fifteenth century long after swords had stopped being the answer, and it is why a hammer head is short, dense and unglamorous.
The heads and hafts
Haft lengths run 15 to 26 inches, which is one hand territory throughout. The shortest is a Mjolnir hammer at 15 inches overall with a ladder pattern Damascus head, a black leather haft and a knotwork collar, followed by one at 16 inches with a rune cut head, a tan leather haft and a wrist loop. At 19 inches there is a double faced head on a walnut haft with an engraved collar and a leather belt hanger, and at 20 inches a Mjolnir engraved head with steel langets on an ash haft. A 24 inch piece carries a rune cut head with a leather wrapped grip and a head cover, and the longest at 26 inches has a crow beak pick opposite the face on a hardwood haft with brass langets and a ferrule. Two are Damascus: a flat faced head on a rosewood haft with brass bolsters and a turned brass pommel, and a head with steel langets, a leather grip and a raven etch on ash. One is a Mjolnir style hammer with a carved ash handle and a Norse knotwork panel. Langets are the steel straps down the haft that stop a head shearing the wood, and most of these have them. Prices run from 279 dollars to 389 dollars.
Hammer, mace or something else
The three blunt shapes solve the same problem differently and the differences are real. Our comparison of mace, war hammer and flail works through reach, control and what each does to armour. If it is the Norse symbolism you are after rather than the mechanics, our page on Mjolnir covers the sources. The hammers with the Thor connection are in Thor’s hammers, and the wider run of forged heads is in Viking hammers.
Ransack Viking is a US company based in Chicago, Illinois. These pieces are handmade in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from Chicago. 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.
