I am looking for pictures of Naval Dirks particularly ones with D-guards and straight blades.
Any help would appreciated.

Thanks,
Ben

Here is one of the best looking British Naval dirks that I have come across - see this thread over at SFI from a few years ago - http://www.swordforum.com/forums/showthread.p...rk+british -

16 inch blade, dating from around 1790, just possibly a modern copy.

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To my best knowledge, straight-bladed naval dirks do not go usualy with D-guards. It might has been a very rare combination, as most straight naval dirks I've seen have a short cross or 'S' guard. Those with a D-guard tend to have a very curved blade (they look like a miniature saber).

Here is a naval dirk with a D guard, but with a curved blade

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Maybe a picked example of a Confederate D-guard Bowie will do better.

Thanks for the help. I guess I'll have to look at small swords or hangers for hilt designs then.

What exactly are you looking for?

I am making a long naval style dirk (18" straight blade, deep fuller double edged tip) and would like to make it as authentic as possible with a D or shell guard. I think I may opt for a cuttoe (spelling as I saw some hunting swords/cuttoes that would fit the bill nicely.

I have look at the at book in that past for other projects and have it on request at the library, thanks for the reminder.

Speaking of cuttoes, I really like this one, 31" overall, dating from 1736. Also, there are a lot of good looking cuttoes in Neumann's book

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Hi Ben

What you seem to be describing would fit for cuttoe and there is a nice online book to thumb through
http://swordlinks.com/courtswords/intro.html

More a straight hanger/hunting/cuttoe type of thing mebbe.

Cheers

GC

Another online resource is Hermann Historica. Look at the recent auctions sections - http://www.hermann-historica.de/gb/index_alte_auktionen.htm - see the hunting hangers and sabers section Auctions 48 to 59.

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The National Maritime Museum (UK) has some great examples of dirks and hangers in their online collections:

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explore/inde...gedweapons

What time period are you going for?

Jonathan, I looked in that Maritime Museum collection and came up with a D-Guard dirk, though an odd one - USA, 1862, with a 14.5 inch blade. It looks like someone combined a dirk blade with a saber hilt.

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This is not a naval dirk. It's 'something' that's good enough for ebay, but not for the NMM.

I persist (perhaps wrongheadedly) in thinking that this might be some junior Union Naval officer's folly, putting together two things that don't really belong with each other. However, in another thread, Jonathan Hopkins praises you as a weapons expert, so maybe I should defer to your knowledge. If the U.K. National Maritime Museum mistakenly lists this item as a Naval Dirk made in 1862, I think you should contact them and tell them that it is a modern(?) child's toy.

Q: What is the difference between a naval dirk and a child's toy?
A: It depends on the age of the midshipman!

Or, more seriously, to what extent are the various child's swords military equipment for children? (Or at least for those young soldiers/sailors/etc who we would consider children today.)