Rummaging through some old files I had saved while at work brought me to this picture and text. I have no idea where it originated, it was in an unlabeld folder unfortunately. Any one have any info or non-excavated pictures that might go along with these?

Quote:

Items #974-#979 are English side knives of the Late Tudor-Early Stuart period and can be as easily identified with the Renaissance in England and Henry VIII as with the English Civil War. Stylistically nearly identical to their predecessors (studied extensively in Knives and Scabbards HMSO, 1987) these have a fully developed integral bolster replacing the riveted angled “stops” used previously. That they are often recovered with scabbards leaves no doubt that they are weapons and it is likely that virtually every common man was armed with one during those turbulent years. All are excavated and have undergone professional conservation.

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Those knives look similar to those found in English Cutlery by J.F. Hayward. I have a copy somewhere but since it is not really about edged weapons I have probably put it somewhere hard-to-find. Another place to see more examples is www.faganarms.com . I believe they actually had some for sale in the past year or two. If you contact Fagan to ask about these knives, call them--they never respond to email.

Best,
Jonathan

PS--If I find the Hayward title it is yours. :)

Thanks Jonathan!

I'm looking to have one created or give a go at it myself, so any info on better condition finds, wood types for grips, etc would be fantastic!

Chris,

May I suggest you take a look at Ragweed Forge on the net. There is a knife there in the section called Other Traditional Knives called the Lewis & Clark that seems similar to some of the knives you pictured. I've bought several knives from that site and always been happy with the knives and the service.

Good luck,


Ken Speed

Sorry for dredging up an old thread, but I have an update. I ended up contacting Tod's Stuff about his eating knife kit and the possibility of getting a blade with an intergral bolster so I could make a side knife. Tod's Stuff is amazing with customer service, and their kit is a great product.

This weekend I went out to hang with Aaron Schnatterly and he helped me put together the kit. Here's the results:

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Gold Dollar for size

Nice knife! I get more and more interested in this aspect of our field, not least because it favors the Do-It-Yourself crowd.

A kit is a great option (thanks, Tod!). Thrift stores and estate/garage sales also are a good sources for high quality carbon steel kitchen knives (I recently got a large blade for $1.50) . Those often come with a nice patina, and can be modified by the creation of new grip scales/rivets.

Good call Sean!

I wasn't able to find a decent knife at the local thrift shops that had the bolster on it. Seeing as I really wanted to capture that for the 'periodness' of the piece, I asked Tod's Stuff, and a week and a half later it was at my door. I'm keeping my eye open though, as I would love to try out a late style ballock dagger for my kits as well. My best friend is enamoured with the early 15th C, and I would love to suprise him with a good looking rondel too.

Ahhh too many projects! :)

Oh, and the kit came with:

Blade, wood for the scales, rivet stock, leather for a sheath, and needle w/ thread for sewing the sheath. Aaron and I just had to provide the epoxy for the scales and tools to get it shaped and polished.

Yeah, the integral bolster is tricky. I'm more interested in the earlier bauernwehr types, some of which have no bolster at all and some of which have a two-piece, non-integral bolster. I'm preparing to finish a 15th c. German knife project, and haven't yet decided how I want to deal with this aspect. I got some .25" bar stock but may save it for a true bauernwehr project. I figured I'd cut two pieces, pin them to the blade and shape them in place. We'll see how it goes....