Late last year I commissioned this mid-16th Century ballock dagger from Tod (Tod's Stuff). The design is based on knives found in London and on the Mary Rose.

The handle is based on MR81A1290, which I had the privilege to examine and measure in detail. The blade is based on similar-designed knives found in London, since no blades were found with the MR knives. The handle is made of yew root, which gives it a beautiful depth and life.

The blade is approximately 12.5" (32 cm) long and 5/16" (8 mm) at its thickest; thus making it slender but very sturdy.

The sheath is double-thickness leather, carved and stamped and dyed a mid-brown.

As usual with Tod's pieces this one has the feel of an artefact made brand new in 1545, then transported forward through time to today. Those looking for machine-perfect lines and finish may be disappointed; but that's not what this knife is about: It looks made by a craftsman who knew and understood his tools and his materials and used them to form a perfectly functional and styled product - as perfect as it needed to be.

Personally, I love the asymmetry and hand-crafted nature of it. And that's why I will keep going back to Tod.

All I have to do now is convince my wife I really, really must have a reproduction of the Mary Rose sword to compliment the knife... :D

Congratulations Glennan,

That's a beautiful dagger. I especially love the yew root- not a wood often seen in reproductions. I really like to see pieces that show how beautiful and interesting historically accurate european wood choices can be. Sometimes the exotic non-european woods on hilts, though certainly attractive, take away from the complete historical aesthetic IMHO.

Well done

I like that one a lot. Love the look of the yew wood. Scabbard as always is very nice. Would love to see it in the thread Chad started to keep the thread going. I have a mace from Tod I am working on and should throw it in there too once I am done. Nice acquisition!

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...light=tods

Tod stages regular raids on my wallet too. Daggers of all sorts, scabbards for swords, a crossbow, mace head, various medieval bits-and-bobs. Where does it end :eek: On top of that he is just a really nice guy to know and deal with. Yep i'm fully fledged fanboy :lol:
Phil

Good stuff from Tod, as always. I'm another convert. :) I have the privilege of owning a number of his items as well.