Nightvane Hand Made Black Leather Viking Cuirass | Vegvisir Engraved Chest Plate | Steel Studs and Side Lacing | Norse Reenactment Gift | RK-1430

Nightvane is a hand made black leather cuirass, a front and back torso harness cut from heavy vegetable tanned cowhide and closed with buckled shoulder straps and a lace up flank. The chest carries an engraved Vegvisir, the eight staved sigil that is drawn everywhere from tattoo flash to shield faces today. Here is the honest history behind it. The Vegvisir does not appear in any Viking age find. It is first recorded in the Huld manuscript, a collection of Icelandic magical staves compiled by Geir Vigfusson in 1860, where the note beside it says that a man carrying this sign will not lose his way in storms or bad weather even when the way is unknown. It is a piece of nineteenth century Icelandic folk magic wearing Norse clothes, and it is a beautiful thing to cut into leather. We would rather tell you that than sell you a myth.

The cuirass is cut, dyed, tooled and assembled in our Memphis, Tennessee workshop. Three horizontal lames run across the belly so the torso can bend forward without the leather folding into a permanent crease, domed steel studs pick out the seams and the plate edges, and the flanks close with a leather thong laced through set eyelets so the fit can be pulled in or let out over a gambeson. It ships assembled and wearable, with the shoulder straps buckled, the flank lacing threaded, and a spare length of lace in the box.

Specifications

Why a cuirass is built in lames rather than one solid plate

A torso is not a rigid box. It bends forward at the waist, it twists, and it swells as the lungs fill. Cut a cuirass from one continuous slab of thick leather and the wearer will feel all of that fighting back, and within a few wearings the hide will take a hard crease across the belly that never comes out and eventually cracks along the fold.

The answer, used on plate harness and on leather alike, is articulation. The body is split into a rigid upper plate and a set of horizontal bands below it, each band overlapping the one above like roof tiles. When the wearer bends, the bands slide over one another and the movement is spread across three joints rather than concentrated in one fold. Nightvane uses three belly lames set that way, riveted at the flanks so they hold their stack and float free across the middle.

The lacing does the second half of the job. A buckled side strap gives you a handful of fixed positions, but a laced flank gives you a continuous range, and it can be pulled in tighter at the waist than at the ribs so the cuirass sits on the hips rather than hanging off the shoulders. That is worth knowing if you plan to wear it for hours.

The leather and the steel that holds it together

The body is vegetable tanned cowhide in roughly 8 to 9 ounce weight, which is around 3.2 to 3.6 mm through. Vegetable tanning uses tannins drawn from bark and other plant matter rather than chromium salts. It takes far longer, it costs more, and it produces a firmer hide that holds a tooled or engraved line crisply, takes a wax and oil finish, and darkens and softens with wear instead of going floppy and grey. That is why armourers have used it for centuries and why we use it here.

The engraving is cut into the grain side of the hide rather than printed or stamped on, so it will not lift or peel. The fittings are nickel plated steel throughout, buckles, studs, rivets and eyelets alike, chosen because a bright fitting against black leather reads well and because plated steel resists the sweat that will inevitably get into it.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel or the leather. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On this cuirass that means your chosen work goes onto the chest plate in place of the Vegvisir, not next to it. If you want the Vegvisir kept and a rune line added elsewhere, say so in the order notes and we will put the runes on a belly lame instead. More detail is on the engraving page.

Fit and sizing

This cuirass is built to a stated size rather than to your measurements, so read this part properly. It is cut to fit a chest of roughly 38 to 46 inches, with the flank lacing taking up the difference across that range. The plate length is set for a torso of average height, which for our pattern means somewhere around 5 foot 8 to 6 foot 2. Much shorter and the belly lames will sit low on the hips and restrict sitting down. Much taller and the plate will finish above the navel.

What you wear under it matters as much as your chest measurement. A padded gambeson can add two to four inches of girth on its own. If you plan to wear one, order with that in mind and use the top of the lacing range. If you are wearing it over a linen tunic only, you will be at the tighter end. Shoulder strap length is adjustable at the buckles.

Care

Leather wants feeding, not soaking. Wipe the cuirass down with a barely damp cloth after use, let it dry away from direct heat, and work a small amount of leather conditioner or neatsfoot oil into it two or three times a year, more often if you wear it in dry heat. Do not dry wet leather in front of a fire or a radiator, which cooks the fibres and makes them brittle.

Store it hanging or lying flat rather than folded, because a fold left for months becomes a crack. The steel fittings will take a wipe of light oil now and then to keep sweat from marking them. Our general notes on keeping steel bright are on the steel care page and apply to the studs and buckles here.

Forged in Memphis

This is cut, dyed, tooled, studded and assembled in our Memphis, Tennessee workshop. It is not pulled off an importer catalogue, rebranded and drop shipped to you from a warehouse. The hide is selected here, the pattern is cut here, the Vegvisir is engraved here and the rivets are set here. That is also why our lifetime warranty against defects in the leatherwork, the stitching and the fittings means something. There is no end date on it and you do not need to find a receipt.

A note on handmade variation

This is hand made rather than machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Grain, tone, the exact depth of the engraved line and the small marks left by hand tools vary because each piece is worked by hand from a natural material. Two hides from the same batch take dye differently. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is this real armour or a display piece

It is honest leather torso armour of the kind used for costume, display, film and light reenactment. It is not certified protective equipment and it is not rated for full contact combat, sword sparring or any event with a safety standard behind it. Heavy leather will turn a glancing knock. It will not stop a committed blow and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

Will it fit me

It is cut for a chest of roughly 38 to 46 inches with the flank lacing taking up the slack, and for a torso around 5 foot 8 to 6 foot 2. Measure your chest over whatever you intend to wear underneath, not over a bare shirt, and pick from that number.

Can I wear it over a gambeson

Yes, and it is designed with that in mind, but a padded gambeson adds two to four inches of girth. If you are already near the top of the chest range without padding, you will run out of lacing. Tell us in the order notes and we can send a longer flank lace.

Does the Vegvisir mean anything specific

It is an Icelandic magical stave recorded in the Huld manuscript of 1860, glossed there as a sign that keeps a traveller from losing the way in bad weather. It is not a Viking age symbol despite how often it is sold as one. We cut it because it is a strong piece of design with a real, documented Icelandic history.

Will the black dye rub off onto my clothes

The hide is dyed through and then sealed, so it should not transfer under normal wear. A brand new piece worn against a white shirt in heat and sweat may mark it slightly on the first outing. Wipe the inside face down once before the first wear and that settles it.

How long before it ships

Processing is one to two weeks because each piece is cut and built to order, then free shipping within the United States. Returns are accepted within seven days. Engraved and personalised work adds a few days to the build.

What is in the box

• One black leather cuirass, front and back plates joined and ready to wear
• Two buckled shoulder straps, fitted
• Flank lacing threaded, plus one spare length of leather lace
• Care card with conditioning notes
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See more in leather armor, viking armor and chainmail armor, or read the guides.