Runemead Hand Made Rune Drinking Horn | Full Elder Futhark Row | Dark Natural Ox Horn and Polished Steel Rim with Black Leather Belt Loop | Norse Mead Gift | RK-1675

The Runemead is a deep drinking horn cut from a single dark ox horn, banded at the mouth in polished steel, and carrying a full Elder Futhark row cut in a line that follows the outer curve from the rim almost to the tip. It comes with a black leather belt loop and steel buckle so it can hang at the hip where a horn belongs.

Cutting runes into horn is older than cutting them into steel. The oldest runic finds in Scandinavia are on bone, antler and wood, because those were the materials a carver had to hand and because a knife point will take a straight stroke out of them cleanly. The Vimose comb from Funen, dated to about the year 160, carries the word harja scratched into antler and is one of the earliest runic inscriptions anyone has found. A horn with a rune line on it is not a modern gift shop idea. It is the oldest use runes ever had. This one is made and finished in the Czech Republic and sealed food safe. This one is kept with the drinking horns, and the Viking beer mugs sit right beside it.

Specifications

How runes are cut into horn

Horn is not wood and it does not behave like it. It is layered keratin, tougher and springier than it looks, and it will chip along a layer boundary if you drive a tool into it at the wrong angle. So the rune line on this horn is scribed and then deepened in passes rather than cut in one stroke, working with the curve of the wall so the depth stays even where the horn thickens toward the tip.

That is also why the runes are angular rather than rounded. Runes were designed for exactly this job. Every character in the Elder Futhark is built from a vertical stave and straight diagonals, with no curves and no horizontal strokes, because a horizontal cut on antler or wood follows the grain and vanishes and a curve tears. Cut a runic line into horn and it reads sharply from across a room. Cut a script letter into horn and it closes up.

The row itself is the Elder Futhark in its traditional order, twenty four characters starting fehu, uruz, thurisaz, ansuz, raido, kaunan. It is the ancestor of the shorter sixteen character Younger Futhark that Viking Age Scandinavia actually used, and it is the version people mean when they talk about rune meanings, because each Elder character carries a name as well as a sound. If you would rather have a name or a date than the whole row, the rune converter on this page will set it.

The horn and its preparation

Ox horn is keratin laid down in layers, the same material as a fingernail, and its colour is decided entirely by the animal. This one runs charcoal to near black with paler grey banding through the belly. Nothing has been dyed or stained. We sand through the grades and buff the outside, and the colour is whatever the horn already was.

Preparing it to drink from is the slow part. The soft inner core is taken out, the interior is scraped back to hard clean keratin, then the horn is boiled and washed to strip the residue that causes the smell people complain about in cheap horns. Skip that step and no seal in the world will fix it. Once it is clean the inside is sanded smooth and sealed with a food safe coating that stays put, does not melt and does not flavour what is in it.

The rim band is polished steel, fitted to the mouth to protect the thinnest part of the horn and to give you a clean edge to drink from. The belt loop is black leather with a brushed steel buckle, edges burnished by hand, and it is sized for a normal belt rather than a costume strap.

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, so on this horn your line runs where the Futhark row is shown. Full details are on the engraving page.

Fit and sizing

Nothing about the horn needs sizing, but the belt loop does. It takes a belt up to about one and a half inches wide, which covers ordinary leather belts and most kilt belts. If you wear a two inch reenactment belt, measure it and tell us in the order notes and we will cut the loop to suit.

Thread your belt through the loop, then pass the buckled strap around the belly of the horn and pull it up until the horn stops sliding. Do not crank it tight. You want the horn to lift out one handed so it can be passed around, and over tightened leather will mark the polish. Hung correctly the mouth points up and slightly out and the tip sits behind your hip rather than jabbing your thigh as you walk.

Care

Hand wash only, in warm water with a little mild soap, then rinse and stand it mouth down to drain. Never put a horn in a dishwasher. The heat and the long wet cycle lift the interior seal, cloud the polish and can split the wall, and nothing brings a split horn back. Do not leave a drink sitting in it overnight.

Keep it out of direct sun and away from radiators, because horn dries out the way timber does and a dried horn loses depth of colour and can craze. If the outside dulls, a small amount of food safe mineral oil worked in with a cloth will bring it back, and the rune cuts will darken slightly and read better for it. Feed the leather loop with a balm once or twice a year, dry it slowly if it gets soaked, and wipe the steel band dry after every wash.

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 Chicago, Illinois 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 is hand made rather than machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Every horn differs in colour, curve and translucency, and a dark horn especially will vary from charcoal with grey banding to almost solid black. The rune line follows the curve of the horn you get, so its spacing sits a little differently on every piece. The capacity, the seal, the fittings and the build are the same every time. The character is not. Read groomsmen gifts that are not cufflinks when you have a minute, and the drinking horn and how it was used if you are still comparing.

Frequently asked questions

What do the runes on the horn say

They are the full Elder Futhark alphabet in its traditional order rather than a message. If you want a name or a phrase instead, use the rune converter on this page and it replaces the row.

Is it food safe

Yes. The interior is scraped, boiled, sanded and sealed with a food safe coating. Beer, mead, cider and wine are all fine. Skip anything boiling hot.

Will the engraving wear off

No. The runes are cut into the horn wall rather than printed on the surface, so washing and handling will not remove them.

Can it go in the dishwasher

No. Hand wash only. Dishwasher damage lifts the seal and can split the horn and is not covered by the warranty.

How much does it hold

Roughly sixteen to twenty fluid ounces, though it varies from horn to horn because no two are the same size.

Will mine look like the photograph

The same size, seal, band and rune row, but the colour and curve are natural and will differ. Tell us in the order notes if you would prefer a darker or a lighter horn.

What is in the box

• Runemead dark ox horn drinking horn, food safe sealed interior
• Full Elder Futhark row cut along the outer curve
• Polished steel rim band
• Black leather belt loop with steel buckle
• Care card for horn and vegetable tanned leather
• Lifetime warranty against defects in the fittings and build
• Made and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See more in drinking horns, runestones and rune sets, engraved and personalised and accessories, or read the guides.

Compare it with these

For a straight comparison, see the Draughtraven drinking horn. Worth putting side by side with this is the Hornmead drinking horn. In the same category sits the Oakcradle drinking horn.

From the same corner of the shop, there is the Aleholm tankard. Pick the steel, the length and the fittings yourself on the design your own page.