Trineclaw Hand Forged Steel Knuckle Claw | Three Blade Hand Claw | Knotwork Cut Knuckle Plate with Tan Leather Hand Strap | Cosplay Display Gift | RK-1845

The Trineclaw is a hand claw: three tapered steel blades on a riveted frame that is worn across the back of the hand rather than held in it. The knuckle bar is blackened and cut with interlaced knotwork, with four scalloped finger recesses moulded into it, and a broad tan leather strap runs across the palm to hold the whole thing on. A second tan leather wrist strap is included.

Claws like this are not an invention of fantasy film, although that is where most people first meet them. The bagh nakh of the Indian subcontinent is a real and very old thing: a bar with two finger rings at either end and four or five curved claws along its length, small enough to close a fist around and hide completely. The most famous story attached to it is the meeting between Shivaji and Afzal Khan at Pratapgad in 1659, where by most accounts Shivaji went into an embrace with a bagh nakh concealed in his hand. In Japan the tekagi or shuko was a set of spiked bands worn on the palm, used for climbing and for catching a blade, and it turns up in the training curricula of several old schools. The idea of arming the hand itself rather than extending it with a hilt is genuinely ancient. This one is a modern display and costume interpretation of that idea, cut, formed, riveted and assembled by hand in the Czech Republic.

Specifications

What this piece is and what it is not

We would rather say this plainly than let a photograph imply something we do not mean. The Trineclaw is a display, collecting and costume piece. It is not a functional tool and it is not for sparring or contact of any kind. The blades leave us with the points formed and the edges dressed back rather than taken to a cutting edge, because this is an object that gets strapped to a hand and handled by people at conventions and in living rooms, and a keen edge on a piece worn that way is a bad idea for everybody.

It is also not connected to any film, franchise, character or brand. It is our own design, built from a historical idea that predates all of them by several centuries. If you are buying it because it reminds you of something you have seen, that is entirely fine, but nothing here is licensed by or endorsed by anyone.

None of that makes it a toy. It is real steel with real points on it, it is heavy enough to hurt someone if it is swung, and it should be treated as an edged object. Do not wear it in a crowd, do not wear it while drinking, and check the rules of any event before you take it through the door.

The steel, the blackening and the leather

The blades are high carbon steel, ground and polished bright, with a long even taper from the frame out to the point. Three blades on one frame rather than one blade means the spacing matters more than the profile: too close together and the piece looks like a fork, too far apart and the frame has to be so wide it will not sit on a hand. These are set to follow the natural spread of the fingers.

The knuckle bar is blackened. Blackening is an oxide layer grown into the surface rather than a paint or a plating, so it does not chip off an edge the way a coating does, and it gives a strong dark ground for the knotwork to read against. The pattern is cut into it, not printed on top.

The palm strap and the wrist strap are vegetable tanned leather in a natural tan. Vegetable tanning uses bark tannins rather than chrome salts, which is the older process and the one that gives leather its firm body and its habit of darkening richly with handling and light. Both straps are riveted through with domed steel rivets rather than stitched, because a rivet through steel and leather is the joint that will not work loose under a twisting load.

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 here your text or symbol takes the place of the knotwork on the knuckle bar. A short line also sits well tooled into the palm strap. The engraving page shows how a cut reads against a blackened surface.

Fit and sizing

This is a one size piece and it is fitted by the strap rather than by the frame. The four scalloped recesses in the knuckle bar are spaced for an average adult hand, and the broad leather palm strap is what takes up the difference: your fingers curl over the bar and into the recesses, the strap crosses your palm, and the frame sits along the back of your hand rather than gripping it.

If you have small hands or you are wearing it over a costume glove, the separate wrist strap is what makes it secure. Run it around the wrist and through the frame and the claw stops being something you have to hold on to. Measure across your knuckles with your hand relaxed and flat if you want to check the fit before ordering, and tell us the measurement in the order notes if it is much under three and a quarter inches or much over four, since we can adjust the strap length before it ships.

For display it stands on its own on a shelf with the blades forward and the frame taking the weight, and it hangs from the wrist strap on a hook if you would rather have it on a wall.

Care

The blades are bare high carbon steel and will spot if they are handled and put away without a wipe. A cloth and a thin film of light oil after every session is the whole job. Do not use abrasive metal polish on the blackened knuckle bar, since it cuts straight through the oxide and leaves a bright patch that cannot be blended back in; a soft cloth and a little oil keeps it dark. Feed the leather straps with a neutral conditioner once or twice a year, worked in and buffed off, and let them dry naturally if they get wet rather than putting them near a radiator. Check the rivets occasionally and stop wearing it if any of them have gone loose. Our page on steel care covers oiling and how to take early rust off a polished surface.

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 piece is hand made rather than machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The blackening on the knuckle bar never strikes at exactly the same depth twice, so some read closer to charcoal and some closer to true black. The three blades are ground by hand, so their tapers and the polish along them are individual. Vegetable tanned leather takes colour unevenly and carries the grain and small natural marks of the hide it came from, so no two straps are the same tone. The blade length, the frame and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is it sharp

No, and deliberately so. The points are formed and the edges are dressed back, because this is a display and costume piece that gets strapped to a hand. Treat it as an edged object regardless, because it is steel and it has points.

Is this an official product from a film or a franchise

No. It is our own design and it is not licensed, endorsed or connected to any film, character or brand. The idea comes from historical hand claws, which are several hundred years older than any of them.

Will it fit my hand

It is sized for an average adult hand and the broad leather palm strap takes up the difference either way. Tell us your knuckle measurement in the order notes if you want the strap adjusted before it ships.

Can I take it to a convention

That depends entirely on the event. Many conventions have prop rules that exclude anything made of steel regardless of whether it is sharp. Check before you travel.

Can I have runes on it

Yes. Your line replaces the knotwork on the knuckle bar, or it can be tooled into the leather palm strap instead.

How long does it take to arrive

One to two weeks of processing, then free shipping inside the United States. Engraved orders take a little longer.

What is in the box

• Trineclaw three blade hand claw in polished high carbon steel
• Blackened knuckle bar cut with interlaced knotwork
• Riveted tan leather palm strap and a separate tan leather wrist strap
• Care card covering steel oiling, blackened finishes and leather
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Made and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See the rest of the fantasy and display pieces, the Norse arms, the karambits, or read the guides for the history of hand worn steel.