Forge Your Own Viking Rune Pendant!
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Forge Your Own Viking Rune Pendant!
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Hello fellow makers,
In my quest to expand my forged jewellery collection I decided to finally give in and try some Viking runes.
Now unfortunately you can't just walk into a store and buy some off the shelf rune stamps, so for the first time I had to make some of my own tooling.
This will also be my first time free hand stamping all of the lines so please don't be too harsh on me.
I know I could always just etch or engrave the runes into the brass but that just doesn't have that raw look and feel that stamping has.
The design of the pendant was inspired by the ancient Celtic money rings and I will be using Elder Futhark runes to stamp a personalised name onto mine.
Join me to learn how you can make your own...
Supplies
To make this Instructable you will need the following:
- 4mm Bronze rod
This can be found at your local hardware store in the welding/brazing section. I recommend using bronze when learning and then moving on to precious metals later.
- Silver solder
I recommend buying a kit like the one I linked as you will need the different melting temperatures for different parts of the ring, otherwise you can also use tin solder for the low temperature areas.
- a Butane/propane blow torch
- a Hammer
- an Anvil** (at $15 I highly recommend getting something like this)
Any piece of heavy metal with a smooth surface can be used, before I made myself this small jewellers anvil I used an old hammer head mounted in a vice and it worked great.
- Sanding paper (waterproof) around 60 to 400 grit and I would highly recommend a sanding sponge/block
- Metal polishing compound blocks
- Leather safety gloves
- Pliers
- Cutters
Optional:
- A Dremel
- Felt polishing pads
*As an Amazon Associate I receive a small percentage from sales made through provided links at no cost to you, this helps fund future projects.
Viking Runes:
The Viking runes:
In Norse lore, the god, Odin, impaled his heart with his own spear and hung on the world tree, Yggdrasil, for nine days and nights all to perceive the meaning of the runes. The runes were symbols that sprang from the Well of Urd – the source of fate – and the Norns used these runes to carry that fate up the trunk and branches of Yggdrasil to the nine worlds amidst its boughs.
Odin made his sacrifice at great anguish and risk to himself because he knew that the runes conveyed deep meaning, and if he could understand their meaning he would gain profound wisdom and power.
So we see from this story how the Vikings thought of runes not merely as letters but as having potent virtues within themselves of a metaphysical or even magical nature. The Norse and other Germanic peoples wrote with runes since at least the first century. However, they did not use this writing the way we do now, or even the way Mediterranean and other neighboring cultures did then. Instead, runes were for inscriptions of great importance. They could be carved into rune stones to commemorate ancestors and mark the graves of heroes. Because they had inherent meaning, they could be used as a means of communication between the natural and supernatural, and could thus be used as spells for protection or success. It is obvious to see how many of these runes were an influence on our English letters used today, such as the T, O, F and S seen in these pendants.
Carved on sticks or other objects, they could be cast and deciphered to discern the present or predict the future. Rather than being penned on vellum or parchment, runes were usually carved on wood, bone, or stone, hence their angular appearance. While evidence suggests that most Vikings could read the runes on at least a basic level, for them the true study and understanding of these symbols was a pursuit fit for the gods.
You can read up more on the history of Viking runes at: SonOfVikings.com
Start Forging:
Safety first!
Always wear leather gloves and face protection when forging metals, the pieces can cause serious burns even after standing for a while. Always handle your metal as if it is hot.
Now we will need to start shaping our bronze rod.
For the pendant I will forge around 12cm of bronze rod into flat bar but I suggest you forge this length first before cutting off the excess as it will make handling it easier.
Now we need to anneal the bronze rod, with the butane/propane torch you need to heat up your bronze rod until it gets to a cherry red color and then quench it in a bucket of water (or if you are comfortable working with hot metal you can hot forge it without quenching first)
Tip: Pick a hammer that has a defect free head as all the scratches and dents from the head will be transferred to your piece.
When the rod has reached temperature you can place the rod on the anvil and start hammering it down on one side, try to keep your hammer head as flat as possible whilst moving across the rod.
While hammering you will feel the bronze getting harder, once you feel this happening you will need to reheat the rod as above.
Flipping the rod over from time to time will help keep it straight.
Keep repeating the above until you've reduced the thickness of the rod from 4mm to around 1mm.
Now you can reheat the rod and then place it on its side and gently hammer down the side to end up with a uniform bar that's approximately 8-10mm wide and 1mm thick.
Shaping:
Once you have forged a mostly uniform bar it's time to start shaping it.
With the butane torch start by heating up a roughly 3cm area until it is red hot, then using a pair of pliers slowly start bending the bar then move up to the next piece.
Because of the width of the bar the metal will want to fold, this is minimised by heating small sections at a time and by occasionally hammering everything flat again.
This step took a few repeats until I got it round, luckily the bronze is very forgiving as long as you keep it annealed.
When you have finished forming the ring you can use a Dremel cutoff wheel or saw to cut where the two ends overlap.
Soldering:
Time to solder the joint.
First you need to prop up the piece so heat it, preferably from the bottom. Make sure the surface is suitable for soldering on (heat resistant), I used the hole in the back of my anvil to secure the piece with some wire.
Add silver solder flux and a small piece of silver solder (medium/hard) in the joint and start heating the joint with your butane torch.
When the piece reaches the melting point of the solder it will flow into joint.
Wait for the piece to cool completely.
Prepping:
Before moving on to stamping we want to make clean up any fire scale left by soldering and get rid of some of the rough edges.
I started by leaving the pendant in some normal household vinegar for about 30 minutes just to get rid of the fire scale and flux, I prefer doing this as you don't remove as much material and detail as you would by sanding away the stubborn scale.
Next I used a rubber compounding bit in my Dremel and buffed the entire piece, you want to be left with an evenly matt pendant with no deep scratches or sharp edges.
Make Your Own Stamps:
Because all of the runes are made up of lines this makes it easier for us when it comes to tooling.
At the very least you will only need one stamp with a short line but I also made a longer one that is almost double the line length. My stamps measure 2.5mm line for the short one and 4mm line for the longer one.
To make the stamps I repurposed some of my old CNC bits that broke (old drill bits or masonry nails would also work) they are made from HSS steel and work great for the bronze.
I use basically the same method we used to forge the bronze on these bits, using the butane torch I heat up the tip until it glows red and then on the anvil I hammer then down to flatten.
I then use the diamond cutoff wheel in my Dremel to shape the tip so we have a nice even line when stamped.
If you don't want to make your own stamps you can simply use the "I" stamp in the regular metal stamping kits.
Rune Stamping:
Now to get stamping.
I started by just dividing the ring up with a permanent marker to make spacing the runes easier.
Using the chart above you can now start personalising your pendant, I found that it is easier to start in the middle with the runes. Also with the first blow of the hammer I hold the stamp slightly at an angle so that one of the ends of the lines bites into the metal, this stops the stamp from moving around and messing up your design.
Give It a Good Polish:
Finally it's time for a good polish.
I started with the coarse compounding block and a felt polishing bit and then moved down to medium and fine until all the scratches are removed.
You can finish off the ring with some liquid polish and a soft cloth to bring out that mirror finish.
Tip: If your stamping isn't very visible you can cover it with a black permanent marker, let it dry and buff off the excess using a soft damp cloth.
Finishing Touches:
All that's left to do is to assemble your necklace.
For the necklace i'm using a piece of brown leather lace simply knotted through the ring as I think it compliments the style perfectly. To add some extra flair I added a wooden bead and a carved stone bead too.
Enjoy!
