Kinbound Hand Made Bronze Tone Valknut Pendant with Raised Triple Triangle & 22 Inch Box Chain | Norse Memorial Gift | RK-1601

The Kinbound is a round Valknut pendant, thirty five millimetres across, with the three interlocked triangles standing in relief from a recessed field and a raised rim running round the edge. The whole piece is cast and finished in a warm bronze tone, so the polished knot catches the light against a softer matte ground. It hangs from a heavy bail on a twenty two inch steel box chain with a spring ring clasp.

Of all the marks associated with Norse belief, the Valknut is the one that turns up in the places that matter. It is carved on the Gotland picture stones, it is cut into the wooden bedpost from the Oseberg ship burial, and in every one of those contexts it sits alongside death, a horse, or a man being given to Odin. It is a symbol about endings and about being bound to a fate, which is why it works as a memorial piece far better than most Norse jewellery does. Each Kinbound is cast, finished, polished, chained and packed in Memphis, Tennessee, and carries our lifetime warranty against defects in the making and the fittings, with no end date and no receipt needed.

Specifications

There are two Valknuts, and this is the woven one

Look closely at any Valknut and you are really looking at one of two different knots that happen to look similar at a glance. The distinction is topological and it is not a modern invention. Both forms occur in the archaeology.

The first is the unicursal form, which is what this pendant carries. It is drawn as a single unbroken line that crosses over and under itself and comes back to where it started, and the three triangles it makes are simply the shapes that line encloses on the way round. Trace it with a fingertip and you never lift off. This is the version on the Oseberg bedpost and on the Tangelgarda stone from Gotland.

The second is the Borromean form, three separate closed triangles interlocked so that no two of them are directly linked, yet all three are held together. Remove any one and the other two fall apart. That is the version on the Stora Hammars stone. It is a real mathematical object, and Borromean rings are studied in knot theory for exactly the property the Norse carver noticed first, which is that the whole holds only while all three are present.

Both forms carry the same association, and both say something about binding. The unicursal one says a single thread runs through everything and returns. The Borromean one says three things hold each other up and none of them can be pulled out alone. Which reading you prefer is entirely up to you, and both are defensible from the stones themselves.

The finish and the chain

The pendant is cast and then hand finished. The recessed field behind the knot is left matte and the raised knot and rim are polished, which is the reason the design reads clearly at a distance rather than dissolving into reflections. The warm bronze tone is a finish rather than solid bronze and it is not gold. We say that plainly because a warm coloured pendant is exactly the kind of thing that gets described dishonestly elsewhere.

The chain is a steel box chain, which is worth choosing deliberately. A box chain is built from square links that sit flush against each other, so it lies flat, it does not twist against the neck the way a curb chain does, and it is far harder to kink than a rope or a snake chain. It is also strong for its weight, which matters when it is carrying a thirty five millimetre disc. The clasp is a spring ring, the simplest and most reliable closure there is at this size, and the bail on the pendant is heavy enough to take a chain twice this gauge if you ever want to change 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, the leather or the wood. 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 the Kinbound the reverse is a flat blank disc, which takes a name, two dates or a short line of runes comfortably, and engraving there leaves the Valknut on the front untouched. See the engraving page for lettering and rune options.

Fit and sizing

The chain is twenty two inches, which on most adults puts the pendant a little below the collarbones, roughly at the top of the sternum. Twenty two is a good default for a disc this size, because a heavier pendant worn high tends to sit at an angle rather than flat.

To find your own length, hang a piece of string round your neck, slide it until the pendant would sit where you want it, pinch it there and measure the full loop. That measurement is the chain length to order. If you want it shorter we can supply eighteen or twenty inches, and if you want it worn outside a jumper we can go to twenty four. Say so in the order notes. A steel box chain can also be shortened by a jeweller later, unlike a leather cord, so twenty two is a safe choice if you are buying it as a gift and are not sure.

Care

A bronze tone finish holds up well but it is still a surface. Put the pendant on last, after aftershave, perfume, hairspray and sunscreen, and take it off before a shower or a swim. Chlorine and salt water are the two things most likely to dull it. To clean it, use a dry jeweller’s polishing cloth on the raised knot and rim and leave the matte field alone, because working the recessed area with a cloth will slowly polish it and lose the contrast. Do not use a dip, a paste or an ultrasonic cleaner. Store it in its box rather than loose with other jewellery, since steel chains and cast pendants scratch each other quickly in a drawer.

Made in Memphis

The Kinbound is cast, finished, polished, assembled and packed in our Memphis, Tennessee shop. The finishing is the part that takes the time, because the matte field and the polished knot are worked separately by hand rather than tumbled together. Nothing is drop shipped from an importer catalogue and given our name at the last minute. Engraving is done here on our own machine. Expect one to two weeks of processing before your pendant ships, a little longer for a personalised piece. Shipping inside the United States is free.

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. Cast pieces take the bronze tone slightly differently from batch to batch, so yours may read a shade warmer or cooler than the one photographed. The line where the matte field meets the polished knot is worked by hand and will be its own. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is this solid bronze or gold

Neither. It is a cast alloy finished in a warm bronze tone. We would rather tell you that up front than let the colour do the talking.

Is the chain included

Yes. A twenty two inch steel box chain with a spring ring clasp comes with every pendant, in a gift box.

Will it turn my skin green

It should not. The finish sits over the casting rather than exposing raw copper alloy, and the chain is steel. If you react to costume jewellery generally, tell us and we will quote a sterling version.

What does the Valknut mean

It is consistently associated with Odin and with the dead in the surviving carvings. The modern Norwegian name means knot of the slain. No period text explains it, so anyone offering a precise meaning is guessing.

Can I have a date engraved on the back

Yes, and this is the piece people most often ask for that on. The reverse is flat and blank and takes a name and two dates without crowding.

How long before it arrives

One to two weeks of processing, then free shipping inside the United States. Engraved pieces take a few days longer.

What is in the box

• One Kinbound bronze tone Valknut pendant
• One 22 inch steel box chain with a spring ring clasp
• Gift box and care card
• Made and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See the Norse pendants, the Mjolnir pendants, the wedding and groomsmen gifts, or read the guides.