Hornmead Hand Made Viking Drinking Horn with Polished Brass Rim | Roughly 14 to 16 Inches Along the Curve | Vegvisir Stamped Leather Belt Hanger | Norse Mead Gift | RK-1711

The Hornmead is a full size natural ox horn drinking vessel finished with a polished brass rim and paired with a tan bridle leather belt hanger stamped with the Vegvisir. It holds a generous pour, sits comfortably in one hand, and comes with the strap and buckle you need to carry it on a belt when you are not drinking from it. Every horn is a natural object, so no two are the same length, the same curve or the same colour.

Horn was the everyday drinking vessel of the Norse world for a practical reason. A horn cannot be set down on a table, which is why hall drinking was social and continuous, and why the horn was passed rather than parked. Archaeology from Birka and Gotland shows horns fitted with cast metal rims and terminal mounts, exactly the two places a horn takes wear. We follow the same logic here. The rim is where the brass goes, because that is the edge that chips.

Each horn is cleaned, scraped, sanded through several grits, polished and sealed on the inside with a food safe brewers lining before the brass rim is fitted. Made and finished in the Czech Republic. It ships with the leather belt hanger, the buckle already fitted, and a short care card.

Specifications

How a drinking horn is sealed and made food safe

Raw horn is keratin, the same material as a fingernail, and it is porous on the inside where the bone core was removed. Left untreated it will hold liquid, then hold the smell of that liquid, and eventually flake. Making a horn safe to drink from is a matter of three steps done in order. First the interior is scraped and reamed back to clean solid material, which removes the soft membrane that causes most of the odour people complain about in cheap horns. Second the horn is washed, dried thoroughly and inspected against a light for pinholes. Third it is lined with a food safe brewers sealant, poured in, rolled to coat the full interior and left to cure so that liquid never touches bare horn.

That lining is the reason the care instructions matter. It is a cured coating, not a fired glaze, so it tolerates cold drinks and room temperature drinks and does not tolerate boiling water, dishwashers or being left full overnight. Treat it the way you would treat a good wooden bowl and it will outlast you. Treat it like a coffee mug and you will strip the lining in a season.

The horn, the brass and the leather

The horns are natural ox horn, sorted by wall thickness and curve before any work starts. Thin walled horns crack, so those are rejected. What is left is worked down through progressively finer abrasives until the outer surface reads as glass rather than as hide, which is what brings out the amber and honey banding you can see in the photograph. Those bands are the growth record of the animal and they are the reason no two horns match.

The rim is solid brass, polished and fitted to the mouth. Brass was the historic choice for the same reason it is the choice now. It does not rust in the way that mild steel does, it takes a shine easily, and it warms to the colour of the horn rather than fighting it. The belt hanger is vegetable tanned bridle leather in a tan finish, around 3.5 to 4 millimetres thick, with a solid brass buckle and a wide loop sized to take the belly of the horn. The Vegvisir is stamped into the damp leather with a hand cut stamp and then set, so it is a compression mark in the hide rather than a printed image that can wear off.

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 practical places for a rune line are the leather strap, either alongside the buckle or running down the tail, and the brass rim itself, where a short line reads very cleanly. Tell us which you want. Full details are on the engraving page.

Fit and sizing

The belt hanger is sized to fit belts up to 2 inches wide and adjusts through a run of punched holes, so it will sit on a modern trouser belt as well as on a wide reenactment belt. The retaining loop is cut generously because horns vary. If your horn is on the slimmer end of the range the loop will hold it with a little movement, which is normal and is better than a tight loop that scuffs the polish. Wet the loop lightly and let it dry around the horn if you want it to take the exact shape of your piece.

The horn itself is not sized in any meaningful way. What you order is the horn you get, chosen from the batch by curve and colour, within the stated length and capacity range. If you need a specific length for a set of matching horns, say so in the order notes and we will do our best from what is in the rack.

Care

Rinse the horn with cool or lukewarm water and a little mild dish soap immediately after use, then dry it mouth down on a rack so the interior can air. Never put it in a dishwasher. Never fill it with anything hot. Do not leave liquid standing in it overnight, and do not store it full. If the interior ever smells, rinse with a weak solution of baking soda and water, rinse again and dry thoroughly.

The outside can be buffed with a soft cloth. If the polish dulls after a few years, a thin wipe of food safe mineral oil or beeswax paste brings it back. The brass will develop a warm patina, which most people prefer, and comes back to bright with any household brass polish kept off the horn itself. Feed the leather hanger two or three times a year with a neutral leather balm and it will darken slowly and stay supple.

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 is hand made, not machine made and not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Horn especially: every horn differs in colour, curve and translucency. Some are pale honey almost the whole way, some carry dark chocolate banding through the tip, some are nearly black at the point and light at the mouth. The curve can be tight or lazy. The mouth can be a rounder oval or a flatter one.

The leather will vary too, in grain and in how the tan takes across the hide. What does not vary is the specification. The capacity range, the brass rim, the food safe lining, the leather weight and the buckle are the same on every one. The character is what changes, and that is the point of buying something made by hand from a natural material.

Frequently asked questions

Can I actually drink from this or is it decorative

You can drink from it. The interior is scraped clean and sealed with a food safe brewers lining, which is what makes it usable rather than ornamental. Cold and room temperature drinks only, and rinse it out when you are done.

Will it make my mead or beer taste of horn

It should not. The membrane that causes that taste is scraped out before lining, and the lining keeps liquid off the horn wall entirely. If you notice any flavour on the very first pour, rinse it once more and it will go.

How much does it actually hold

Roughly 16 to 20 fluid ounces, which is a pint or a little more. Because horns are natural, the exact figure moves within that range. The one you receive will hold at least a pint.

Is the belt hanger included or is it extra

It is included. The Vegvisir stamped leather strap with the brass buckle ships with every horn at no extra cost. It is not sold separately from this listing.

Can I put runes on it

Yes. Use the rune converter on the page to set your text in Elder Futhark and tell us whether you want it on the leather strap or on the brass rim. Both work well and both are done by hand here.

How long before it ships

One to two weeks. The lining has to cure properly before we will let a horn leave the shop, and that is the part that sets the timing. US shipping is free once it goes.

What is in the box

• One natural ox horn drinking vessel with a polished brass rim
• One tan bridle leather belt hanger with a solid brass buckle and Vegvisir stamp
• Care card covering rinsing, drying and leather feeding
• Lifetime warranty against defects in the making
• Made and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See the rest of the drinking horns, the horn mugs and tankards, the viking home decor, and the guides for more on horn care and Norse drinking custom.