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Dark ox horn drinking horn with stand in turned walnut, steel rim band and a carved knotwork coaster, photographed on weathered decking in low sun

Oakcradle Hand Made Drinking Horn with Stand | Dark Natural Ox Horn | Turned Walnut Cradle and Carved Knotwork Coaster | Norse Table Gift | RK-1677

Key Features:

Material: Single dark natural ox horn, food safe sealed inside
Stand: Turned American black walnut cradle with steel collar and weighted base
Coaster: Carved walnut disc with Celtic knotwork and Futhark lettering
Capacity: Approximately 14 to 18 fl oz / 410 to 530 ml
Fittings: Polished steel rim band at the mouth
Finish: Buffed horn, oiled walnut, polished steel
Personalisation: Elder Futhark rune engraving or your own Viking design.
Hand Made in Memphis, Tennessee.

$189.00

4.99 from 1,552 verified reviews

The details

Reference: RK-1677

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Features & Compatibility

The Oakcradle is a dark ox horn banded in polished steel at the mouth, sold with a turned walnut stand that holds it upright on a table and a carved walnut coaster to set it down on. The stand is a cradle on a turned pedestal with a steel collar and a weighted round base, and the coaster carries a Celtic knot cut into the face with the word Futhark carved along the edge.

The stand exists because a horn cannot stand up, and that is not a design flaw. Norse drinking horns were made to be handed round. A horn that will not sit down keeps moving, and every account of hall drinking we have, from the flyting scenes in the Poetic Edda to the toasting customs described in the sagas, describes a vessel that goes from person to person rather than one that waits on a table. The stand is a later convenience, and a welcome one if you would like to keep the horn on display between feasts. Ours is made and finished in Memphis, Tennessee and the horn is sealed food safe.

Specifications

Material	Natural dark ox horn, polished, with a food safe interior seal
Fittings	Polished steel rim band at the mouth
Capacity	Approximately 14 to 18 fl oz / 410 to 530 ml, varying with the horn
Stand	Turned walnut cradle on a pedestal with a steel collar and weighted round base
Coaster	Turned walnut disc carved with a Celtic knot and the word Futhark
Colour	Charcoal through smoke grey, unique to each horn
Finish	Hand sanded and buffed horn, oiled walnut, polished steel
Included	Drinking horn, turned walnut stand and carved walnut coaster
SKU	RK-1677

How the cradle actually holds the horn

Look at the top of the stand and you will see it is not a ring. It is a saddle, cut with a curve across the top so the belly of the horn beds into it rather than balancing on a rim. That matters because every horn has a different curve. A ring only holds one diameter of horn at one angle, whereas a saddle lets the horn find its own seat and sit still.

Underneath the saddle the pedestal is turned down to a waist and then out again to a wide round foot. All of the weight is in that foot, which is what keeps the assembly from going over when a full horn is dropped into the top. There is a steel collar under the saddle where the load is highest, both as a decorative band and as reinforcement across the short grain of the turning.

Set the horn in with the mouth up and slightly out, and let the tip swing behind rather than forward over the table edge. That is the balanced position and it is where the stand was designed to hold it. Lift it out with one hand around the belly rather than by the rim, and put it back the same way.

The horn, the walnut and the steel

Ox horn is layered keratin and its colour is decided entirely by the animal. This one runs charcoal through smoke grey with lighter banding. Nothing has been dyed. 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 out the residue that gives cheap horns their smell, sanded smooth and sealed with a food safe coating that will not melt into a hot drink or crack when the horn flexes.

The stand and the coaster are American black walnut, turned to shape and then finished with oil rather than lacquer. Oil soaks in and stays repairable, which matters on a piece that is going to live on a table and pick up ring marks. A lacquered finish looks glassy for a year and then chips at the edge and cannot be touched up without stripping the whole thing. Walnut also darkens with age and handling, so the stand will slowly deepen in colour to meet the horn.

The knot on the coaster is cut into the wood, not printed or branded, and the word Futhark is carved around the edge. The rim band on the horn is polished steel, fitted to protect the thinnest part of the wall and give you a clean edge to drink from.

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 a rune line on the coaster takes the place of the knotwork. Runes can also be cut around the outer curve of the horn. Full details are on the engraving page.

Setting up and display

Put the stand on a flat surface and check that the round base sits without rocking before you load it. Walnut moves a little with humidity, so if the base ever sits proud on one side, a piece of felt under the low point sorts it out. Keep the whole assembly out of direct sun, because the horn and the timber both fade, and away from a radiator or a wood burner, because both dry out.

On a shelf, leave enough clearance above the stand to lift the horn straight up and out, which is a good deal more than the height of the horn sitting in it. The coaster is there for the moment the horn comes out of the stand and gets set down on a table, and it will save you a ring on a good surface.

If you are giving this as a wedding or groomsmen gift, the stand is what makes it usable as a display piece for the fifty weeks a year that nobody is drinking mead out of it.

Care

Hand wash the horn only, in warm water with a little mild soap, then rinse and stand it mouth down to drain fully before it goes back in the cradle. 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. Do not leave a drink standing in it overnight, and do not put the walnut stand or coaster near water at all.

Wipe the walnut with a dry cloth and re oil it once or twice a year with a food safe wood oil, working with the grain. That will lift out light ring marks as well as feeding the timber. If the outside of the horn dulls, a small amount of food safe mineral oil rubbed in with a cloth brings the shine back. Dry the steel band after washing so it does not spot.

Made in Memphis

The horn is selected, cored, boiled, sanded, sealed and banded in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee, and the stand and coaster are turned and carved on the lathe and the bench in the same building. Nothing here is drop shipped from an importer catalogue. Because the horn is picked to suit the cradle rather than the other way round, allow one to two weeks of processing before yours ships. Shipping inside the United States is free, returns run for seven days, and the set carries our lifetime warranty against defects in the fittings and the build, with no end date and no receipt needed.

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 the walnut has its own grain, figure and depth of colour so no two stands look the same. The carved knot is cut by hand and will sit a fraction differently on each coaster. The capacity, the seal, the fittings and the build are the same every time. The character is not.