Thricebound Hand Made Polished Steel Valknut Pendant with Elder Futhark Rune Band & Black Leather Cord | Norse Gift | RK-1634

This is a Valknut pendant cut and finished by hand in polished steel, three triangles interlocked so that no single one sits fully on top of the others, with a short band of Elder Futhark runes cut into the lower bar. It hangs from a heavy flat bail on a round black leather cord with a steel lobster clasp, and it arrives in a natural cotton drawstring pouch.

The symbol itself is older than the name we give it. Three linked triangles appear on the Stora Hammars picture stones on Gotland, on the Tangelgarda stone and on a bed post from the Oseberg ship burial, almost always in scenes that involve death, sacrifice or Odin. The word valknut is not an Old Norse word at all. It is a modern Norwegian coinage from valr, the slain, and knut, a knot, applied by later scholars because nobody knows what the Norse themselves called it. That honest gap is part of why the shape has kept its weight. This pendant is cut, filed, polished and engraved in a Czech Republic workshop and ships with the cord and pouch under our lifetime warranty. Look for it with the Norse pendants, and take in the Mjolnir pendants on the way past.

Specifications

What the Valknut actually is

Look closely at how the three triangles pass through one another. Each one goes over the next and under the one after, so there is no top triangle and no bottom triangle and the eye cannot find a starting point. That is the whole idea. There are two versions of the knot. The unicursal one can be drawn as a single continuous line and is the version found on the Gotland stones. The other is made of three separate triangles, which turns up on the Nene River ring and one or two other finds, and that is the form on this pendant: three closed triangles linked through one another. Collectors argue about which is older. Neither is wrong.

What it meant is a genuinely open question. The archaeological context ties it to Odin, to horses, to hanging and to the movement between the living world and the dead, which is why it is often read as a bind or a knot on the fate of a warrior. Nobody has a text that explains it, and any shop that tells you the exact meaning is filling in a blank. What we can say is that it is one of the very few Norse symbols with genuine period evidence behind it, unlike a good deal of what gets sold as Viking today.

The metal and the finish

The pendant is cut from steel and finished bright by hand, moving through progressively finer abrasives until the flats take a mirror and the internal edges of the triangles stay crisp rather than rounding over. It is deliberately not plated. A plated pendant looks identical on the day it arrives and then wears through on the high points where it rubs a shirt, and once the plating breaks you cannot repair it. Solid polished steel simply keeps polishing.

We want to be straight about the material. This is a steel piece with a bright silver tone, not sterling silver and not white gold, and it is priced as the hand work it is rather than as a precious metal. It will not tarnish black the way sterling does, and it will not turn skin green.

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 this pendant that means your rune line takes the place of the band already cut into the lower bar, and the reverse face is open for a longer inscription or a date. See the engraving page.

Fit and sizing

The cord is a fixed length round leather with a lobster clasp, cut to hang the pendant on the upper chest on most adults. If you want it noticeably shorter, so the Valknut sits at the collarbone, or long enough to wear over a jumper, message us before you order and we will cut the cord to your figure at no extra cost.

To work out what you want, run a piece of string around your neck and down to the point where you want the pendant to sit, mark it, then measure the string flat. That total is your cord length, and remember the pendant itself hangs below the bail so it will land a little lower than the mark. The bail is wide enough to take a heavy chain if you would rather wear it on steel, and the pendant is light enough that it does not drag on a shirt collar.

Care

Take it off before swimming, before the shower and before the gym. Chlorine, salt water and sweat are all harder on a polished finish than daily wear is. Wipe it with a soft dry cloth after wearing and it will keep its shine for years. If the polish dulls, a jeweller’s polishing cloth brings it straight back, and for the engraved rune band a soft toothbrush with a little warm soapy water lifts anything that has settled into the cut lines. Dry it fully afterwards.

The leather cord is the part that wears first, as it should. Keep it out of prolonged water, do not sleep in it and feed it once or twice a year with a small amount of leather balm on a cloth. When it finally goes, the bail takes any standard cord or chain.

Made in the Czech Republic

This piece is made by hand in the Czech Republic, in a workshop that still works the old way. The steel is forged, ground, heat treated and finished by smiths who learned the trade from the people before them, and the wood, horn and leather are cut and fitted by hand rather than pressed out on a line. That is also why no two pieces come out exactly the same.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We import these pieces ourselves, check every one when it lands and ship from our warehouse in Chicago, Illinois. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives, so your runes or your own design go on before it leaves for you.

A note on handmade variation

This is hand made, not machine made and not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The polish is worked by hand so the way light runs across the three faces differs from piece to piece, the filed inner edges of the triangles vary by a fraction, the rune cuts are made by hand and carry their own depth and rhythm, and every leather cord takes its own colour from natural hide. The dimensions, the material, the symbol and the build are the same every time. The character is not. You can carry on with the Valknut, or look at the Norse symbols and what they meant while you are there.

Frequently asked questions

Is this solid sterling silver

No. It is polished steel with a bright silver tone. We say so plainly because a lot of pieces sold at this price are described as silver when they are plated. Steel holds its finish better than plate and will not tarnish black.

Will it turn my skin green

No. That reaction comes from copper alloys and there is no copper in contact with your skin here.

Is the chain or cord included

Yes. A round black leather cord with a steel lobster clasp comes with the pendant, along with a cotton drawstring pouch. The bail also takes a standard chain if you prefer one.

What do the runes on it say

The stock band is a short Elder Futhark line. If the letters matter to you, use the rune converter on this page and we will cut your own word or date in its place.

Can I wear it every day

Yes. It is solid, the bail is soldered closed rather than a bent open loop, and the finish is in the metal rather than on top of it. Take it off for swimming and heavy exercise and it will last.

How long does shipping take

One to two weeks of processing in the shop, then free shipping inside the United States. Custom rune work usually adds a few days.

What is in the box

• Hand made polished steel Valknut pendant with rune band
• Round black leather cord with steel lobster clasp
• Natural cotton drawstring pouch
• Care card for polished steel and leather
• Lifetime warranty against defects in the making and the fittings
• Made and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See more in the Norse pendants, the Mjolnir pendants and the accessories, or read the guides on Norse symbols and what the evidence actually supports.

Close to this one

Another in the same line is the Wayrune Norse pendant. Next along the rack is the Skybridge Norse pendant. For a straight comparison, see the Wardstave Norse pendant.

The Beardknot beard ring covers the other half of the same kit. Nothing here exactly right, build one to your own spec on the design your own page.