Although there was an issue with my order, I feel there is justification for the 4 stars.
- I ordered the drinking horn with the horizontal engraved rings. The product shipped and was received within the 2-day Prime window allowed.
- The product arrived and the burlap bag had some of the logo and writing missing as it appears the logo was put on the bag when the bag was creased. The drinking horn that arrived was missing the engraved rings. :(
- I emailed Daaxo Wares a.k.a. Norse Tradesman.
- They responded about a day or so later in a pretty epic email. They kept the theme of Vikings in their tone and offered me two options. Option one was to return the drinking horn for a full refund. Option 2 was they would issue me a 50% refund if I wished to keep the tankard. I chose option 2 as the tankard was nice and I am handy, so I wanted to make some improvements to it.
- The tankard did have a couple things wrong with it. There was a minor "V" shaped crack in the handle, which I remedied with a small drop of super glue then pressed it together. You can't even tell now and it is on the inside of the handle anyway. There was also a rough edge on the wooden bottom where it looked like they put a less than perfect wooden bottom on the tankard. This isn't a big deal though, as it does add character.
- Another thing to note is that the polyurethane they used to seal the wood was rather strong smelling and would cloud up when the tankard contained water for an extended period of time. There was also a rather small amount of wax on the interior of the tankard and it should have been a bit heavier coating. My remedy for this was to take about 6 oz of pure beeswax, heat it in a stainless steel pan over the stove and repeatedly pour it in and out of the tankard to form a nice even coating inside the tankard. The beeswax achieved a nice healthy 1/16" coating or so inside the tankard. This not only added an attractive aroma to the inside of the tankard, it killed off the odor of the polyurethane and prevented any further cloudiness from holding water. The drinking horn now functions amazingly and no longer has the somewhat toxic smelling odor.
- The photos were taken immediately after unpacking. After a washing with a very mild dish soap, the color was much better. Also, after adding the beeswax coating inside, the color also improved. In general, it is a really cool looking drinking horn. I am very pleased with it now, but will likely end up putting some sort of Viking stencil on it and engraving it with my Dremel.
- I would also like to give customer support 5 stars for their willingness to work with me and for staying "in character" of a Viking throughout our back and forth support emails, to which I completely enjoyed. I also joined in with the same theme and it actually made the support process fun. In addition, the refund followed within minutes of their email stating they would issue the refund. Very impressive.
- Overall, I am very pleased with this tankard. If anyone is considering buying one, I would only recommend picking up a half pound of pure beeswax first. You can usually get this at any earthy crunchy style store that sells organic and vegan oils, foods, deodorants, or alternative medicines. I bought a 13 oz brick for about $9 and used about 4 oz melted to pour in and out of the tankard. I disposed of the rest of the melted wax that was left over.

A nice mug for general drink use that garners attention from others.

First of all Amazon decided to pack this horn without any protection in a single box along with a weighted electrical item that I had also ordered at the same time, the fact that the horn arrived still intact while bouncing around the box with the other product speaks volumes to the care that the delivery driver had taken. Second, upon opening, reading the instructions, & inspecting my coffee horn, that should've been Double lacquered for hot beverages & that I planned to give as a gift to my boss, I did find a patch that was not lacquered at all on the outside near the handle. I was also surprised to find there was an area on the mug at that same location that was see through. Nonetheless I decided to follow the directions, properly cleaning the mug & patting it dry before first use then proceeded to test it against its first cup of coffee. I'm happy to report that there are no leaks as of yet though there was a string of audible creaking as it settled to temperature. I would give this five stars since it met it's bare minimum requirement of holding hot liquid as a drinking horn however due to the oversight of the patch where the horn was unlacquered & the see-through area I have to give this 4 stars at best.

My brother loves-loves-loves his!!!!! Beautiful horn, beautifully hollowed out with no thin spots and a nice sturdy wood bottom. Love how they carefully bent the horn to make a handle. It's one piece!! Fantastic product!!

Love my viking mug!