{"product_id":"broken-back-seax-knife-runic-blade-leather-sheath","title":"Handmade Broken-Back Seax Knife with Runic Blade and Leather Sheath","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhat Is Our Broken-Back Seax Knife?\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur Broken-Back Seax Knife is a handmade reproduction of the defining blade form of Anglo-Saxon and Viking-age northern Europe. The blade carries a runic engraving along the flat, and the carved grey wood handle is fitted with a horn spacer, a brass ring, and a dark end cap. A handmade leather sheath is included.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe blade measures 9.2 inches with a 14.2 inch overall length, which places it between the hadseax carried by nearly everyone and the broad seax that served as a heavy camp tool.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat Makes a Seax a Broken-Back Seax?\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLook at the spine. It runs straight from the handle, then angles sharply down toward the point, so the back of the blade appears to have been snapped. That angle is the whole definition of the type.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe shape is not decorative. Keeping the spine full-width along most of the blade puts mass behind the cutting edge, which is what lets a seax chop. Dropping the spine steeply at the end produces a fine, well-supported point for detail work. One blade that both chops and does close work, which is precisely what a single knife had to do when it was the only one you owned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBroken-back seaxes appear heavily in Anglo-Saxon and Frankish archaeological contexts, with the form at its most common through the 8th and 9th centuries and in English use into the 11th. Several of the finest surviving examples came out of the Thames in London.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhy Are There Runes on the Blade?\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRunic inscription on a seax blade is historically grounded rather than invented for the tourist trade. The most celebrated example is the Seax of Beagnoth, a 9th or 10th century broken-back seax recovered from the Thames and now held in the British Museum. Its blade carries a runic inscription naming its maker, making it one of only a handful of signed early medieval blades known to survive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInscribed and decorated seaxes were prestige objects. The quality of a person's seax advertised their standing, and the most elaborate rivalled swords of the same period for craftsmanship. A plain working seax and an inscribed one occupied very different social positions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe engraving on this blade is cut by hand, so character spacing and depth vary slightly between pieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat Are the Specifications?\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eSpecification\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eProduct Detail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBlade Type\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBroken-back seax\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBlade Material\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eStainless steel\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBlade Length\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e9.2 inches\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eOverall Length\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e14.2 inches\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHandle Length\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eApproximately 5 inches\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBlade Decoration\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHand-cut runic engraving\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCutting Edge\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eSingle edged, hand ground\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHandle Material\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCarved grey wood with horn spacer and brass ring\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCorrosion Resistance\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eStainless, resists rust with normal care\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eIncludes\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHandmade leather sheath\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePersonalization\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eEngraving available at checkout\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCompare the steel against carbon, Damascus, and tool steels in our \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.stagsteelknives.com\/blogs\/blog-posts\/what-is-the-best-steel-for-knives\"\u003eknife steel guide\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat Were Seaxes Actually Used For?\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWorth separating the reenactment picture from the archaeological one. Seaxes turn up across Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Slavic contexts throughout the early medieval period, and the great majority of finds are working tools rather than fighting blades.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eScandinavian evidence points chiefly toward hunting and meat processing. A blade in this size range handled butchery, woodwork, leather, cordage, food preparation, and whatever else the day demanded. The seax was the general-purpose knife of its era in the same way a folding knife is\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Stag Steel Knives","offers":[{"title":"Knife without Engraving","offer_id":47903207981244,"sku":"0265","price":142.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Knife with Engraving","offer_id":47903208014012,"sku":"0265-1","price":162.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/4621\/4332\/files\/broken-back-seax-knife-runic-blade-leather-sheath.webp?v=1789973227","url":"https:\/\/www.stagsteelknives.com\/products\/broken-back-seax-knife-runic-blade-leather-sheath","provider":"Stag Steel Knives","version":"1.0","type":"link"}