Description

The inspiration for these bear’s or wolf’s tooth amulets came from summer 2017 when I was excavating the ancient viking age village site in my hometown of Birckala. One lucky dude next to me found two of these kinds of amulets quite close to each other, hinting that they may have been used in pairs. The link to original amulets is here: https://tursiannotko.fi/2017/08/01/riipuksena-tai-amulettina-kaytetyt-karhunhampaat/

The beast tooth amulets were very common in viking age Scandinavia, they were most likely believed to give some aspects of the animal into the wearer or protect them from wild predators. A hypothesis has also been made from excavations of many teeth amulets from women’s graves that these pendants were used to protect especially women.

Because bears and wolves are nowadays quite rare I decided to replicate the form of the amulet with the most “magical” material a blacksmith knows, the pattern welded damascus steel.

The pendants are available in two different damascus steel types: normal and stainless. The steel grades used in normal version are carbon steel and nickel steel, a combination where the colors have very nice contrast. Because of the material, these necklaces are not recommended for those with nickel allergy. These are recommended for occasional use like for specific events or any not overtly wet conditions.

The newer option is high quality nickel free stainless steel damascus, which is great for continuous use because it does not rust and can thus be taken into shower for example.

Because the damascus pattern is quite random, each one of these pendants is very unique, two completely similar ones would be impossible to craft even if I tried.

The idea to craft tooth pendants from metals is not new, even during the viking age metal replicas were produced and worn. Perhaps the people then realized how hard it is to get a bear to give up it’s teeth.

All the edges are rounded so the pendant is safe to wear. The damascus pattern is etched out and then polished. Polished surface of the normal carbon/nickel steel version has a light beeswax layer on top of it to prevent corrosion. The pendant’s surface treatment won’t cause stains to skin.

The jewel cord can be soft and strong reindeer leather thread or strong black cotton thread with length approx. 70 cm and tied to a slipknot so the cord length can be adjusted freely.