Simple runes/marks can be made with any burin ( metal engraving chisel), You can make one from some 5160 or other tough steel, or re-grind a small cold chisel. The marks can be hot cut or cold cut.
Punches, like shown in Sam's thread, should be hot punched.
Runes are the term for the ancient alphabet of the Germanic/Nordic regions. The Lord of the Rings trilogy ( the book - long before the movie) made them popular. I remember writing in runic for fun as a youth.
A lot of Viking pattern swords have runes on the blades and guard. Fótbítr (pronounced fuut-bitter) is an example of such a name, and would be either inlaid down the blade or across the guard,. It means "leg biter".
A bit of trivia is that most runes had both a sound as well as a meaning. A word spelled out to make a name would thus also have a longer phrase to describe it. For instance a sword named GEOSVARD might have the meaning -
"This sword is a great treasure that will bring long life and great fame to its bearer" (I just made that up for example).
