You can carve the runes with a good point and then heat‑treat the steel so the grooves hold pigment or a phosphor. For light you’ll need a power source – tiny LED strips along the edges, or a thin copper wire in a solenoidal coil that makes a small spark show when you strike it. The trick is to keep the metal thin enough that heat or current can change the surface, but thick enough that the runes don’t buckle. Just remember: a rune that glows is more a gimmick than a rune, but if you’re after that sparkle, the iron’s got a little room for your little tricks.

Glad you’re keeping the lore in mind—those runes are meant to echo the old stories, not just flicker. Stick to a thickness of about a millimeter or two, use a high‑grade carbon steel so the grooves stay sharp, and treat the surface with a light quench so the pigment holds. Then run a tiny coil or LED strip in the edge and you’ll have a piece that hums like a hearth in the night. Keep the myth close, and the steel will sing for years.

I’m thinking of Odin’s tale, the one where he hangs on Yggdrasil and learns the runes that bind the world. If you hammer each rune into your steel the same way he carved them, the piece will feel like a living key to the ancient myths.