Pocketforge Hand Made Steel Viking Keyring with Miniature Bearded Axe & Valknut Hammer on Hardwood Hafts | Pocket Carry Gift | RK-1641

This is a keyring carrying two miniature tools, a bearded axe and a hammer, each with a shaped steel head hung on its own turned hardwood haft. The hammer face is stamped with a small Valknut. Both hang from short steel curb chains on a heavy split ring, and a tan leather tab with a brass stud is fitted alongside so the ring can be pulled out of a pocket or clipped over a belt loop without dragging the keys with it.

The axe is the more interesting of the two shapes, because the beard is not styling. The lower edge of a bearded axe hangs well below the eye where the haft passes through, and that drooping lobe buys you a long cutting edge without the weight a full deep head would carry. It also leaves a gap behind the beard, so a carpenter could choke right up under the head and use the axe like a heavy knife for shaping and paring. The Norse used the same profile for felling, for carving strakes and for fighting, which is why the bearded axe turns up in a woodworking hoard and a warrior grave in the same century. These are cut, shaped, stamped and assembled in our Memphis shop.

Specifications

Why a bearded axe looks like that

Put a bearded axe next to a modern hatchet and the difference jumps out. The hatchet head is a wedge that gets deeper as it goes back from the edge, so all the metal sits behind the cut. The bearded head is thin and it hangs down, so the edge is long and the mass stays close to the haft. That gives you a head that is light in the hand, quick to swing and easy to control, at the cost of the splitting power a fat wedge gives you.

The second thing the beard does is give you a hook. In a fight a bearded edge can catch the rim of a shield and pull it aside, which is documented well enough in the sagas that it was clearly a known trick rather than an accident of shape. On these miniatures the beard is reproduced properly, with the lobe dropping below the haft line and the top corner swept forward, so it reads as a Norse axe rather than a generic hatchet silhouette.

The steel, the wood and the leather

The heads are cut from steel and finished satin rather than mirror polished, for a very practical reason. A keyring lives in a pocket with coins and other keys and it gets scratched from the first week. A satin surface takes those marks into its existing texture, while a mirror polish shows every one of them and looks tired within a month.

The hafts are turned hardwood, sanded and left with a natural finish so they warm in the hand and pick up a little colour from being carried. The chains and the split ring are steel rather than a plated alloy, which matters more than it sounds. Plated keyring hardware is the single most common failure point on a keyring, because the plating wears at the exact point where the ring rubs and the base metal underneath goes soft and opens up. The leather tab is vegetable tanned, so it will darken and soften with handling instead of cracking.

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 piece the leather tab takes a name or a set of initials well, and the flat cheek of the axe head takes a short rune line. See the engraving page.

Carrying it day to day

Two charms is deliberately as many as this ring should carry. A keyring that gets heavy wears out the ignition switch in an older car and drags a pocket out of shape, so we kept the heads small enough to be genuinely pocketable rather than making a display piece that lives in a drawer.

The leather tab is the part most people end up using without thinking about it. Hook a finger through it and the whole ring comes out of a deep pocket in one movement, and looped over a belt with the keys dropped inside the pocket it stops the ring disappearing down the side of a car seat. If you carry a lot of keys, put them on a second ring and clip that to this one, so the weight hangs off the split ring rather than on the charm chains.

Care

Wipe the steel with a dry cloth now and then and put a spot of light oil on the chain links once or twice a year so they stay quiet and free. If the satin finish picks up a deeper scratch, a grey abrasive pad drawn in one direction blends it back in. Do not put it through a washing machine in a coat pocket, which is the way most keyrings actually die.

The hardwood hafts want nothing more than a wipe and a very occasional touch of furniture oil if they look dry. The leather tab should be fed with a small amount of leather balm once or twice a year and kept out of prolonged soaking. If the split ring ever loses its spring, tell us and the warranty covers replacing it.

Made in Memphis

The heads are cut and shaped, the Valknut is stamped, the hafts are turned and fitted and the leather is cut and stitched in our own shop in Memphis, Tennessee. This is not a bag of stock charms bought from an importer catalogue and put on a branded card. That means a real lead time rather than a warehouse shelf, so allow one to two weeks of processing and a few days more if you have added an engraving. Shipping inside the United States is free and our lifetime warranty against defects in the making and the fittings has no end date and needs no receipt.

A note on handmade variation

This keyring 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 two heads are cut and filed by hand so the beard sweep and the hammer chamfers vary slightly, the Valknut stamp lands at a marginally different depth depending on how the steel takes the strike, the hardwood hafts come from natural timber so their colour and grain differ from pale straw to a warmer honey, and the leather tab takes its own tone from the hide. The dimensions, the materials, the fittings and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the little axe sharp

No. The edge is shaped so it looks correct but it is deliberately left blunt, because a sharp edge on something that lives in a pocket next to your hand is a bad idea and it would also cut the lining out of a coat.

Is it heavy in a pocket

It is noticeable but not a burden. The heads are miniatures rather than scaled down tools, and we kept them small on purpose so the ring stays carryable.

Will the steel rust

Kept in a pocket and wiped occasionally it holds up well. Steel is honest about wear, and a mark can be blended out with an abrasive pad rather than chipping a plated coat away.

Can I have initials put on it

Yes. The leather tab is the usual place, and the flat of the axe head takes a short rune line. Use the rune converter or the engraving option.

Are both charms included or do I choose one

Both are included. The axe and the hammer come fitted on the ring together with the leather tab.

How long does shipping take

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

What is in the box

• Hand made steel Viking keyring on a heavy split ring
• Miniature bearded axe charm on a turned hardwood haft
• Miniature hammer charm with a stamped Valknut on a turned hardwood haft
• Tan leather pull tab with a brass stud
• Lifetime warranty against defects in the making and the fittings
• Made and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See more in the accessories, the beard rings and beads and the wedding and groomsmen gifts, or read the guides on Norse axe types.