Knotvow Hand Made Viking Rune Ring with a Celtic Knotwork Band & Elder Futhark Cut Inside | Norse Wedding Gift | RK-1658

The Knotvow is a hand made viking rune ring built as a flat band with a raised rail along each edge and a sunk channel between them. Running the whole way round that channel is a four strand Celtic plait, cut and shaded so the strands pass over and under one another without a break. Inside the shank, where only the wearer sees it, the first six staves of the Elder Futhark are cut in a line. It arrives in a soft linen drawstring pouch.

Hiding an inscription on the inside of a ring is not a modern jeweller idea. The Kingmoor ring, found in Cumbria in the eighteenth century, and the Bramham Moor ring from Yorkshire both carry a long runic formula that reads as nonsense in Old English and is generally taken as a charm, and on both of them part of the text is cut on the inner face where it sat against the skin. The reasoning appears to have been that the words worked by touching you, not by being read by anyone else. That is the tradition this ring follows. It is made and finished in the Czech Republic.

Specifications

Reading the plait

A proper interlace has one rule, and once you know it you cannot stop checking rings and stone crosses for it. Every strand must alternate strictly over, under, over, under, all the way round, and the pattern must close on itself with no loose ends. Get that wrong in one crossing and the whole panel reads as broken to anyone who has looked at real Insular work, which is why cheap interlace so often looks subtly wrong without the buyer being able to say why.

The four strand plait used here is the simplest closed form that still reads as a knot rather than a braid. It runs the full circumference and returns into itself, which is the reason this style is so common on rings given as vows. There is no start and no finish anywhere on the band, and that is a piece of symbolism people have been leaning on for a very long time without needing it explained.

The metal and the finish

We will be straight about what this is. It is a solid band with a bright silver tone finish, hand polished and then shaded in the recesses so the plait reads clearly. It is not sold as sterling silver and it is not hallmarked, and if you want a solid sterling piece you should buy one described as sterling rather than trusting a colour. What you get instead is a band that will not dent as easily as a soft precious metal, will not need re polishing every few weeks, and costs a fraction of what the same design costs in silver.

The band is solid through its thickness rather than plated over a hollow core, which matters because a hollow ring collapses if it is caught in a car door or a gym plate. Resizing is not possible on a ring with a continuous cut pattern, since cutting the shank breaks the plait, so the size you order is the size you keep.

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 Knotvow the inside of the shank is the place for it, and your text takes the place of the standard futhark line rather than being added next to it. Roughly fourteen characters fit inside a size 10. See the engraving page.

Fit and sizing

Measure carefully, because a ring with a continuous pattern cannot be resized later. Three things matter. First, an 8 mm band wears tighter than a thin one, so if you are between sizes on a narrow ring, order the next size up here. Second, measure at the end of the day and in a warm room, since fingers are at their smallest first thing in the morning and in the cold and you do not want a ring that only fits at seven in the morning in January. Third, check that the ring passes over your knuckle with a little resistance rather than sliding, because the knuckle is almost always the wider point.

The most reliable home method is a strip of paper wrapped snugly around the base of the finger, marked where it overlaps and measured against a printed sizing chart. String stretches and gives a size too small. If you are buying as a surprise gift, a ring the person already wears on the same finger is far better evidence than a guess.

Care

Take the ring off before lifting weights, before rough work with tools and before swimming in chlorinated water. Most damage to rings happens in a gym or a pool rather than in daily wear. Clean it in warm water with a drop of washing up liquid and an old soft toothbrush, working the bristles into the recesses of the plait where skin oil collects, then dry it fully with a cloth. Avoid abrasive polishes and polishing cloths loaded with compound, because those cut the shading out of the recesses and leave the pattern looking flat. Do not wear it in a hot tub, since the chemicals attack the finish faster than anything else in normal life.

Made in the Czech Republic

The work behind this piece happens in a Czech Republic workshop that has kept to the old methods. Steel is forged and heat treated by hand, the grind is taken down by eye rather than by machine, and the handle, fittings and sheath are cut and finished one at a time. Because of that, every piece carries small marks of the hand that made it.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We import direct, check each piece when it reaches us, and ship from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse. Engraving is added here in the United States after arrival, so the piece you receive is finished to your order.

A note on handmade variation

This ring is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The plait is cut and shaded by hand, so the depth of the shading and the exact width of each strand shift slightly from ring to ring, and the runes inside sit at a marginally different point on the shank. The width, the profile, the finish and the size you order are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is this solid sterling silver

No. It is a solid band with a bright silver tone finish and we do not sell it as sterling. It is not hallmarked.

Will it tarnish

It does not tarnish the way sterling does. It will dull with skin oil and soap film, and a warm water wash with a soft brush brings it straight back.

What do the runes inside say

The standard ring carries the first six staves of the Elder Futhark, fehu through kenaz. Custom text replaces that line rather than joining it.

Can it be resized after I buy it

No. Cutting the shank would break the continuous plait, so please measure carefully before ordering.

Does it work as a wedding band

Many people buy it for exactly that, usually with the two names or the date cut inside where only the wearer sees them.

How long before it ships

One to two weeks while it is finished to your size and cut, then free shipping inside the United States.

What is in the box

• Knotvow viking rune ring with a continuous four strand Celtic plait
• Elder Futhark rune line cut inside the shank
• Soft linen drawstring pouch
• Sizing and care card
• Lifetime warranty against defects, no receipt needed
• Made and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See the other viking rings and bracelets, the wedding and groomsmen gifts, the wider accessories, and the guides for measuring a ring size at home.