I wonder if they viewed that fashion as amusing or if it was a serious, non funny style, not to be mocked.

Here's a Ballock dagger that I made for myself based on photos I took in a German museum in 2000. Sadly it was before I owned a digital camera and I have forgotten which museum it was. I think it was in Munich?

Photos of original,

http://s1111.photobucket.com/user/Lee_Laver/m...=3&o=2


http://s1111.photobucket.com/user/Lee_Laver/m....jpg.html?


And my interpretation,

http://s1111.photobucket.com/user/Lee_Laver/m...s.jpg.html


http://s1111.photobucket.com/user/Lee_Laver/m...s.jpg.html


Lee

My very first forged knife, hammered out of an automobile leaf spring.
Didn't turn out very well, but I threw together a boxwood handle for it anyway.
Multi-stage edge and reinforced point.

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I forged another ballock dagger, this time from O1 tool steel. I think that it came out a lot better than my first attempt, I'm very pleased with the final result.

O1 tool steel
Ebony handle
Leather sheath
Overall length is 16 inches (40 cm)

I did the major shaping of the ebony wood on a belt sander, then switched to wood rasps. I was amazed at how much better hand-stitched rasps work than machine-made rasps. I found that a Swedish wood carving knife was extremely useful in carving the bollocks.

It was a real challenge working with ebony. A lot of hairline cracks appeared. Did I just get the ebony too hot? Anyone have any advice or tips?

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