Spikerim Hand Forged Steel Conical Viking Shield Boss and Fitting Kit with Rune Ring Engraving & Black Leather Straps | Shield Building Gift | RK-1544

A complete set of shield fittings built around a tall conical boss rather than the usual dome. The cone rises to a blunt point from a wide flat flange pierced for six rivets, and a line of Elder Futhark runs right around that flange like a rim inscription. With it come a coil of natural veg tan leather rim binding, ten rivets and ten washers, two short buckled black leather arm straps and one wide black leather grip strap. Conical bosses are a real archaeological form, not a fantasy one. They appear on late Viking Age and Norman shields as the round shield gave way to the kite, and the reason for the change is mechanical. A cone deflects a straight thrust more reliably than a dome does, because there is almost no surface on it that presents square to an incoming point.

The boss is raised and engraved in a Czech Republic workshop and the leather is cut and the hardware set in the same building. This is the fitting kit only. The shield board is not included, since board size, timber and thickness are choices you should be making yourself. The boss is the one part of a shield that reliably survives in the ground, and our guide to Viking shields explains why.

Specifications

Why a cone instead of a dome

Both shapes do the same primary job, which is to cover the hole cut through the centre of the board so your fist can grip the bar behind it. What separates them is how they behave when something lands on them.

A dome presents a surface that is square to the blow only at the very crown, and increasingly angled away from it as you move outward, so it deflects well across most of its area. A cone takes that further. Every part of a cone is angled, and the angle is constant, so a point that lands anywhere except exactly on the tip is pushed sideways immediately. That is why the cone appears as thrusting points and cavalry lances become more of a problem, and why the same period sees the shield itself lengthen into the kite shape.

The cone has a second effect that gets mentioned less. A boss that stands proud like this makes a shield significantly more aggressive to punch with, because the force concentrates on a much smaller area. Centre grip shields were used offensively as a matter of course, and the boss was the part you led with.

The wide flange remains the unglamorous but critical bit. Six rivets set well out from the hand hole spread the shock of any hit into sound timber instead of into the cut edge of the hole, which is where a shield board splits.

Steel, leather and how the kit goes together

The boss is raised from 16 gauge mild steel, close to a millimetre and a half. Mild steel is correct here rather than a hardened grade because a boss should deform and be repairable rather than crack. Take a heavy blow on a mild steel cone and you get a flattened tip you can raise back out over a stake. Take the same blow on a hardened one and you can get a split.

The rim binding is natural undyed veg tan. Veg tan is the tannage you want on a shield rim because it wet forms. Soak the strip, fold it over the edge of the board while it is damp, tack or stitch it in place and let it dry, and it shrinks hard around the rim into a tough collar that keeps a blade edge from splitting the outer laminations. Undyed means you can dye it to match your board or simply leave it to darken with sun and handling. The straps are heavier black bridle weight leather, two buckled for the forearm and one wide one for the grip hand or the shoulder.

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, so here your rune line runs around the flange in place of the one shown. The flange takes a longer inscription than most pieces in the range, so a full name and a date fits comfortably, and a shield built for somebody as a gift usually wants both. Full detail is on the engraving page.

Fitting it to a board

This kit is proportioned for a normal centre grip round shield of the sort found across the Viking world, and it works equally well on a small kite board if you are building one. Cut the hand hole large enough that your closed fist clears the inside of the cone with room to spare, since a cone has less internal volume near the tip than a dome does. Fit the grip bar across the back first, then set the boss over the hole, drilling through board and flange together so the holes line up, and rivet over the washers on the reverse so the load spreads into the timber. Do the rim binding last while the leather is damp, and let the whole board dry standing on edge rather than flat. Ten rivets and ten washers are supplied, six for the boss and four spare for the straps or the grip.

Care

The boss is the first thing on a shield to meet weather, so wipe it and oil it after any wet day. If the tip flattens, raise it from inside over a rounded stake rather than hammering the outside. Feed the black leather straps with a neutral conditioner once or twice a year and check the buckle stitching before an event rather than during one. Undyed veg tan darkens with sun and handling, which is normal and improves with age. If the shield lives outdoors under cover, take the boss off once a season and oil under the flange, since that is where water sits and where corrosion starts unseen. There is more in our guide to steel care. If the finished shield is going on a wall, choosing a shield for display covers the mounting.

Made in the Czech Republic

This is a handmade piece from the Czech Republic, made in a workshop that still forges, grinds and finishes by hand instead of stamping parts out. The smiths there have kept the older way of working, and the wood, horn and leather are shaped and fitted by hand as well. Two pieces of the same design will never be identical, and that is part of what you are buying.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We handle the import ourselves, look over every piece when it lands and ship from our warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. Engraving is done in the United States after the piece arrives, so your design goes on before we send it out.

A note on handmade variation

This is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. A raised cone carries the record of the stake and the hammer, so the line of the taper and the way light runs down it differ from one to the next, and undyed veg tan varies in tone from hide to hide and darkens at its own pace. Grain, tone, hammer texture and exact profile vary because each one is worked by hand from natural materials. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the shield board included?

No, this is the fittings only. Timber choice and thickness are personal, and a finished board costs more to ship than it costs to build.

How is this different from the domed boss kit?

The boss shape and the leather. This one is a tall cone with a rune line around the flange and black straps. The domed version carries a Valknut and brown straps. Function is broadly the same, though a cone deflects a thrust slightly better.

Will a cone boss fit a kite shield?

Yes, and historically that is where you often find it. On a strapped kite board without a hand hole the boss becomes decorative rather than functional, so plan the grip before you drill.

Why ten rivets when the boss needs six?

Six for the boss flange and four spare for the arm straps, the grip strap or a repair. Rivets are cheap and running out mid build is not.

Is the boss safe to punch with?

It is built to take that in a display or light reenactment context. It is not certified protective equipment and no shield fitting should be treated as a guarantee against injury in a contact bout.

How long before it ships?

Processing is one to two weeks because each boss is raised to order, then free shipping within the United States. Returns are accepted within seven days.

What is in the box

• Hand raised conical steel shield boss with an engraved Elder Futhark rune ring
• Coil of natural veg tan leather rim binding
• Ten rivets and ten washers
• Two buckled black leather arm straps and one wide black grip strap
• Care card and lifetime warranty against defects
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See more in shield bosses, kite shields and bucklers, round shields and Viking shields, or read the guides.