Runeleaf Hand Forged Elder Futhark Spear | 72 Inch Overall with 11 Inch Head | Ash Haft, Red Leather Grip and Brown Leather Head Sheath | Norse Reenactment Gift | RK-1981

The Runeleaf is a Viking spear with a bright polished head and a full line of Elder Futhark cut into the steel. The head is a long lozenge shaped leaf with a raised central rib, drawn to a fine point and sharpened on both edges, and the runes run down the flat of the blade in a single row. The socket is riveted through a pale ash haft, a band of oxblood leather is wrapped just below it as a hand reference, and a steel ferrule caps the butt. A fitted brown leather sheath covers the head.

A spear was the weapon a Norse household actually owned. It needed a small amount of good steel and a length of ash, so it cost a fraction of what a sword cost, and it was the thing most men in a shield wall were holding. It was also the tool of first resort for hunting and for keeping animals off livestock, so it lived by the door rather than in a chest. Grave finds bear that out. Spearheads outnumber swords by a wide margin across Scandinavia and the Danelaw, and they vary far more in size and profile because they were made locally by ordinary smiths rather than traded across Europe as prestige goods. Runeleaf is forged, ground, heat treated, etched and hafted in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee.

Specifications

What the runes on the blade actually are

The line etched down this head is the Elder Futhark, the oldest runic alphabet, in its traditional order. It has twenty four characters and it is not called an alphabet after its first two letters the way ours is. It is named after its first six sounds, f u th a r k, which is why futhark. The order itself is fixed and it has survived on stones and on objects across a thousand years and half a continent, which tells you it was learned and recited as a sequence rather than reconstructed each time.

Look at the shapes and notice what is missing. There are almost no curves and almost no horizontal strokes. That is not a stylistic preference. Runes were cut, not written, and they were cut into wood along the grain. A horizontal line disappears into a grain line and a curve tears the fibres, so the whole system is built from verticals and diagonals that cross the grain cleanly. Everything about the letter forms comes from the knife and the material. The twenty four characters were traditionally divided into three groups of eight called aettir, which is how the sequence was memorised and how it is still usually taught. If you have a name or a phrase in mind, the rune converter on this page will lay it out in the same characters you can see on this blade.

The steel and the ash

The head is 1095, a plain high carbon steel with about one percent carbon, tempered to 54 to 58 HRC. A spear head is asked to do something quite specific. It has to hold a point through impact without the tip curling and without the edge chipping, and it has to survive being levered sideways, which is what actually happens when a spear is caught. That combination wants toughness ahead of extreme hardness, so we stay in this band rather than pushing it up towards knife hardness. The raised central rib is the structural trick that lets a wide thin blade stay stiff, working exactly like the spine of a leaf.

The haft is ash for the same reason tool handles have always been ash. Its ring porous structure, with alternating dense and open growth bands, lets it flex a long way and spring back instead of splitting, and it is light for its stiffness, which matters on a six foot shaft where weight out at the head is felt at the hand. Ours is straight grained and finished with oil rather than varnish, so it stays grippy when a palm is damp and can be refreshed with more oil rather than stripped.

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. This head already carries the full Futhark row, so a name ordered for the blade takes its place rather than joining it. If you want to keep the row, the ash haft below the leather wrap has plenty of room and cut lines read very clearly against pale wood. See the engraving page.

Handling and balance

A spear of this length balances a little behind the middle, and that is where the leather wrap sits. That band is not decoration. It gives your leading hand a fixed reference so you can find the same grip in the dark or without looking down, which is the whole reason grip wraps exist on pole weapons. For one handed use with a shield, take it at or just behind the wrap. For two hands, drop the rear hand back towards the ferrule and you gain reach at the cost of some control.

The steel ferrule at the butt does two jobs. It stops the end of the haft brooming out when the spear is grounded, and it puts a small counterweight behind your hands which pulls the balance rearward and makes the head feel lighter than it is. This is a sharpened functional spear, suitable for display, photography and careful solo handling. It is not a sparring weapon, it should never be thrown, and it must not be used near another person.

Care

Wipe the head after handling and keep a light film of oil on the polished steel. The etched rune line has more surface texture than the polished flats and will show corrosion before they do, so work oil into it with a folded cloth rather than a flat wipe. A bright polished head shows fingerprints immediately, which is actually useful, since it tells you when it needs attention.

Give the ash haft a wipe of boiled linseed or furniture oil once or twice a year, applied thin and buffed dry, to stop it drying out and shrinking away from the socket. Feed the leather wrap and the head sheath with a neutral cream a couple of times a year. Do not store the head in the sheath for months at a time, since vegetable tanned leather holds damp against steel. If the head ever feels loose on the haft, tell us rather than hammering the rivet. Our steel care page has the detail.

Forged in Memphis

Runeleaf is forged, ground, heat treated, etched, polished and hafted in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee. The socket is rolled and welded here, the runes are etched here, the ash is cut and fitted here and the leather sheath is wet formed to this head here. Nothing is drop shipped from an importer catalogue and nothing is a stock head pushed onto a stock stick. Because each spear is made to order the honest lead time is one to two weeks before it ships, and shipping inside the US is free. Every piece carries a lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings, with no end date and no receipt needed.

A note on handmade variation

This spear is hand made and not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Ash is a natural material and runs from near white to pale honey, with its own grain lines and sometimes a darker streak where the heartwood came through. The profile of the leaf is ground by eye against a pattern, so the widest point sits a fraction differently on each one. The etched rune line varies in depth and contrast, and the leather takes dye differently across a hide. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the head sharp when it arrives

Yes, both edges and the point are finished sharp. Ask in the order notes for a blunt head if it is going on a wall or into a house with children and we will ship it that way at no extra cost.

Can I throw it

No. A riveted socket and a ground point are not built for repeated impact with the ground. Throwing will bend the head or split the haft. Use it for display and careful handling.

What do the runes say

They are the Elder Futhark row itself, the twenty four characters in their traditional order rather than a message. If you want actual words, use the rune converter and we will cut yours in place of the row.

Can the haft be cut shorter

Yes. Tell us the length you want before we ship and we will cut it and refit the butt ferrule at no extra cost. It can also be shortened later by drifting out the rivet.

Does it ship in one piece

It ships assembled in a long box. If you would rather have it packed as a head and haft for storage or transport reasons, ask on the order and we will send it with the rivet loose.

How long is the wait

One to two weeks of processing because it is made to order, then free tracked shipping inside the US from Memphis.

What is in the box

• Runeleaf Viking spear, assembled and sharpened unless you ask otherwise
• Fitted brown leather head sheath
• Care card and lifetime warranty note
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See more in Viking spears, Viking weapons, glaives and polearms and engraved and personalised pieces, or read the guides.