Ashpoint Hand Forged Viking Spearhead Set of Six | 5 to 9 Inch Heads | Socketed 1095 High Carbon Steel with Rune Marked Collars and Canvas Roll | Norse Reenactment Gift | RK-1655

This is a set of six hand forged viking spearhead heads, graduated from a broad leaf shaped cutting head down to a narrow lozenge point, each one forged with its own socket and each marked with a short rune pair on the collar. They arrive rolled in a heavy canvas tool roll with individual pockets, which is how a smith or a reenactor keeps edged heads from knocking against each other in a bag. Hafts are not included and are not part of this listing.

Spears, not swords, were the ordinary weapon of the Viking age. A sword took a great deal of iron and a great deal of a smith time, and the archaeological ratio in Norwegian graves runs heavily towards spears and axes. The spear was also the weapon with the strongest ritual charge, because Odin carried Gungnir and because a battle was opened by throwing a spear over the enemy line to dedicate them to him. The six heads here cover the range that turns up in the ground, from a wide bladed thrusting and cutting head to a slim point meant to punch through mail. They are forged, ground and hardened in Memphis, Tennessee.

Specifications

How a socket is forged and why it matters

Look at the base of each head and you will see a seam running down the socket. That seam is the whole story. A socketed head starts as a flat tongue of steel forged out behind the blade, which is then heated and wrapped around a tapered mandrel until the two edges meet, and either forge welded closed or left as a tight lap. Wrapping is quick, it wastes almost no steel and it produces a socket that grips a tapered shaft under compression every time the spear is thrust.

The alternative, a tanged head driven into a split shaft, is faster still but far weaker, because the tang splits the wood along the grain the first time the spear is levered sideways. That is why almost every Norse spearhead recovered from a grave or a river is socketed and why we forge these the same way. The drilled rivet hole is a backup, not the main fixing. The friction of a properly tapered shaft inside a wrapped socket is what actually holds the head on, and the rivet simply stops it walking off if the wood shrinks in a dry winter.

The steel and the heat treat

These are forged from 1095 high carbon steel and hardened to 54 to 58 HRC. That is deliberately softer than the damascus blades on this site. A spearhead is a point on the end of a lever six or seven feet long, and every miss transmits a bending load straight into the neck behind the blade. At 54 to 58 the steel takes a working edge and will bend rather than snap if it is abused. Anything harder in a section this slim would be asking for a broken point.

The sockets are left with their forging texture rather than being ground smooth. That is honest work and it is also useful, since a slightly rough interior grips a shaft better than a polished one. The blades are hand ground to a satin finish with a shallow edge bevel.

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 set that means your chosen runes are struck into the socket collars in place of the standard pairs. There is also room along the flat of the two largest blades for a short line. See the engraving page.

Fitting these to a haft

If you intend to mount any of these, use straight grained ash. Ash is the traditional choice in Northern Europe for a reason, since it is stiff along the grain and it absorbs shock instead of shattering. Turn or plane the last eight inches of the shaft to a slow taper that ends about one sixteenth of an inch over the socket bore, warm the socket in hot water, drive it on and let the wood swell back against the steel. Then drill through the existing rivet hole and set a soft iron or copper rivet, peening both ends.

Do not epoxy a head to a shaft. Glue hides a loose fit rather than curing it, and it makes the head impossible to remove for maintenance. Never mount a head onto a broom handle or a dowel from a hardware shop, because those are cut across the grain and will break under load. These heads are sold for collecting, display, study and for building a mounted spear, and a mounted spear is not a toy.

Care

High carbon steel rusts quickly on bare fingers. Wipe each head after handling and put a thin film of mineral oil on it before it goes back into the canvas roll. Canvas breathes, which is good for the steel, but it will not stop rust on its own in a damp garage. If light rust appears, take it off with fine steel wool and oil and it will leave no pitting if you catch it early. Keep the roll somewhere with stable temperature rather than against an outside wall. More on steel care.

Forged in Memphis

Every head in this set is forged, socket wrapped, ground, hardened and struck with its runes in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee. None of it is drop shipped from an importer catalogue. Because six heads have to be forged and matched into a graduated set, allow one to two weeks of processing. Shipping inside the United States is free, returns are open for seven days, and the lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings has no end date and needs no receipt.

A note on handmade variation

This set is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Each head is forged individually, so the blade profiles will differ by a few millimetres from the ones shown, the sockets will carry their own forging marks and the seam will close in a slightly different line. The canvas takes dye unevenly by nature. The number of heads, the size range, the steel and the heat treat are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Are shafts included

No. This is a set of six heads and the canvas roll only. There are no hafts, no rivets fitted and no assembled spears in this listing.

Are the heads sharpened

They arrive with a working edge, not a razor edge. Treat them as sharp steel and keep them in the roll when not in use.

Can I mount one on a shaft myself

Yes. Use straight grained ash, cut a slow taper to a hair over the socket bore, drive it on and set a rivet through the drilled hole.

Why are the sockets not polished smooth

Because forging texture grips a wooden shaft better than a polished bore does, and because it is honest evidence of how the socket was wrapped.

Can I get my own runes on them

Yes. Send your text through the rune converter and we will strike it into the socket collars instead of the standard pairs.

How long does it take to ship

One to two weeks while the six heads are forged and matched, then free shipping inside the United States.

What is in the box

• Six hand forged socketed spearheads in graduated sizes from about 5 to 9 inches
• Elder Futhark rune pair struck into each socket collar
• Heavy canvas tool roll with individual pockets and ties
• Care card for high carbon steel
• Lifetime warranty against defects, no receipt needed
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See the rest of the viking spears, the wider viking weapons, the axe handles and hafts, and the guides for hafting a socketed head properly.