The practice of naming swords is an old one. The Norse myths and sagas speak of the names of swords, spears, seaxes and axes. Some were descriptive in some way of the sword's appearance or it's abilities. Along the spine of this seax I have carved the name of this blade in runes of the elder futhark. It reads "Gut Ripper". For this auction if you'd like me to carve a name please, let me know at auction's end. Also, names can be carved along the spine of the blade but I need to know before tempering what that should be.Please no more than 10 runes.

A Seax (also Hadseax, Sax; occasionally referred to as a Scramaseax, or Food Knife, though this definition only appears once in the entire known literary evidence), was a type of Germanic single-edged knife. They occur in a size range from 7.5cm to 75cm. The larger ones (langseax) were probably weapons, the smaller ones (hadseax)tools, intermediate sized ones serving a dual purpose. Wearing a seax may have been indicative of freemanship, much like the possesion of a spear since only free men had the right to bear arms. The seax was worn in a horizontal sheath at the front of the belt. Scram refers to food and seax to a blade (so, "food knife").[ The Saxons may have derived their name from seax (the implement for which they were known) in much the same way that the Franks were named for their francisca.

In his article on knives from the Island of Gotland, Dan Carlsson ( www.arkeodok.com) states that in the Viking Age, everybody had a knif. It was a tool used not only for eating, but also for cooking and many other activities. That the knife was frequently used can be seen from excavations of Viking Age settlements and graves. It is from his article, descriptions and photgraphic evidence that I was inspired to make these single edged knives and sheaths.

This blade will be hand forged in the fires at White Hart Forge by me, Daniel Klug. I have been making blades for over seven years now and teach blade making part-time. I used a leaf spring from an early 1960's Toyota Land Cruiser for this blade. These Springs are made of high carbon steel and extremely well suited for large blades such as this. This blade will be forged and shaped by hammer and anvil in a technique known as hard packing the edge. That is, it is not shaped by material reduction like grinding. All the original steel is still there. This makes for a very dense and sturdy blade. After heat treating and tempering in a heat bath for one hour at 520 degrees the blade is let to air cool. The over all length of the knife can range from about 20 inches to 16 inches with a blade length between 9 and 12 inches. The blade thickness is about 1/8th of an inch and the spine about 3/16. For this auction, I am using a photo of a previous blade that I made. However, they are similar in construction, size and shape. I have also built these blades to the specifications of the buyer. You decide the runes to be carved and the length.

PLEASE NOTE: Because these are all hand made one at a time, there will be slight variations in the handle and the blade. The photos used here are of previous works and are intended for descriptive purposes. Your blade and sheath will be similar to these and will be built after the auction!

Thanks for looking and I will be happy to answer any questions.