Antennae Medieval quillon dagger ( https://todcutler.com/collections/medieval-daggers-and-large-knives/products/antennae-quillon-dagger )

Hi everybody, this is my first review, please be gentle! This is also my first European blade of any kind. I currently only have (quality) wooden wasters from purpleheart armory. Finances (and my wife) say that I can't get a nice sword right now. So!

Overall: 36.3 cm
Blade: 26.3 cm
Grip (wood only): 8.4 cm
Front quillon (point to point): 7.5 cm
Rear quillon (point to point): 7.7 cm
Blade width at base: 3.4 cm
Blade with ⅓ up from guard: 3 cm
Blade width ⅔ up from guard: 2.4 cm
Point of Balance: Approx 4 cm from front quillon
Weight: 310g

Blade: The blade is what I would consider a flattened diamond cross section with a notable mid rib, but not a hard edge of a mid rib. It has what I believe is a low mirror polish that I find quite attractive. It has a secondary bevel. I did pay for it to be a "reasonable sharpness" but it does not even come close to cutting paper or my hand. I know there are some funky laws in the UK about sharpening so maybe this is the best that can legally be done. If so, understood. If not, a bit disappointing. My only other minor gripe is that on one side of the blade the mid rib does not meet perfectly with the center of the point. It's hard to tell in pictures, but I tried to capture it. No big deal, still perfectly functional and structural, and something that you have to look for to notice.

Fittings: I love the antennae quillons. Just a unique look, and functional as well. The bottom/rear is 2 mm longer from point to point, and is not perfectly centered/symmetrical with the handle which I actually appreciate. Gives it a bit of character. There are (what I believe to be) brass inserts rolled into the ends of the quillons for some extra detail. The wood is attractive and seems a single piece that the tang is inserted through. Peened construction, totally smooth but not completely blended into the pommel/rear quillon. No qualms with that.

Sheath: The sheath is leather and comes in different color options. I chose brown. The designs are not elaborate, but elegant and beautiful in my opinion. The "front" features kind of an arrow fletching design. The "back" actually has two different designs, one on either side of the stitching. One side has a zigzag pattern, the other parallel lines. Two ends of a simple leather cord give one lots of options for how to attach it to a belt, clothing, etc. The (what I believe to be) brass chape is simple but functional. I like it.

Handling: The blade sits very well in my hand. Firmly, but not too snug between the two quillons. I know that it's a dagger, but I took the point of balance anyhow. This feels great in the hand feels like it wants to be used. My hands are slightly on the large side and I really like how it fits in snugly. My only qualm is that the rear quillon does interfere with transitioning from a forward/tennis racquet grip to a reverse/ice pick grip. But, that's my own fault for not thinking of that before I ordered it. It still can be done, it's just a bit more of a task than with other designs. No problem, just a point for anybody considering it.

Overall: I really like this dagger. The craftsmanship is fantastic, even with those minor points I mentioned. It looks great and unique, feels awesome in the hand, and is a complete package with a simple yet artistic leather sheath. Even with the shipping cost from the UK, I feel that I got more than my money's worth. This is an excellent start to my collection in my opinion. Thanks, Tod!

Full video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzTYJFlrSLc (I hope it's not uncouth to post my YouTube. I have 26 followers, I'm not making any money!)

---

 Attachment: 270.63 KB



 Attachment: 292.99 KB



 Attachment: 292.56 KB



 Attachment: 287.31 KB



 Attachment: 189.4 KB



 Attachment: 319.06 KB



 Attachment: 234.72 KB



 Attachment: 283.01 KB

I own both the TC69 antennae dagger and the TC79 14thC quillon dagger. I’ve also handled the TC2 12-17thC quillon dagger.

As a fighting knife the antennae dagger is by far my favorite.

The blade on the antennae dagger is too thick for a super sharp paper cutting edge in my opinion but I’ve managed to get mine to a very “toothy” edge which cuts well, if a little raggedly, on cloth, leather and meat. It definitely cuts better than the other 2 which both have significantly narrower blades.

I was torn between this (TC69) and the TC2 12-17th quillon dagger. I really do like it, I could see it being a great fighting knife for the bit of dagger that I know.

I wasn't expecting it to cut paper super cleanly, but I can even saw back and forth at the edge of a piece of paper and it doesn't even begin a cut. But, I will do some honing on my own and get it to a decent edge, no huge deal. I don't mean some of these minor gripes to make it sound like I don't enjoy it. I really enjoy this dagger! Thanks for the feedback.

I bought mine unsharpened and spent a lot of time sharpening it.
I’ve found that for this blade profile the axe sharpener on my pull through sharpener works best, followed up by a little strop time

That sounds like a pretty good method. I've gotten decent with varying grits of sandpaper, a tile, sometimes a waterstone, strop, and patience all by eye/hand. Would love to give this thing one continuous bevel but that would take a -lot- of patience.

That's a great dagger,

The attention to detail on the sheath is especially nice given the very reasonable price.

Absolutely agreed. Love the structure and design of the sheath.

I had one of these and they're great! Expect a formal review on the Reviews page in the future. I ordered mine sharpened and it ended up very sharp. For the price, these are hard to beat. I only sold it because I have physical storage limits for my collection and something had to go. :)

Interesting, I did pay to have it sharpened but it's not even a "toothy edge." Still love it, though! Definitely agree on hard to beat for the price.

I also have this Tod Cutler dagger. It us a great piece at a great price.

I got it during one of the sales, so it's an even better deal for me. I like the way it fits in-hand. It hangs in its sheath from my backboard as my "just in case" dagger.

Great dagger! The Tod Cutler line of daggers are generally some of the best value pieces out there IMO.

Great to hear so many people enjoying it. I didn't realize that this model was popular, but I guess it makes sense with how darn cool it is :cool:

I have one and it’s great! Like all of Tod’s stuff, it has a “life” often missing from modern replicas.

WOW!, Thanks for posting up the review and thanks for the very kind words.

With all of the Tod Cutler pieces I try to get them to be historically representative and accurate as best I can whilst trying to hit a very low price point. There will always be a balance between the various factors of quality, historical accuracy, detail, price and so on, but hopefully I have got it reasonably right.

There are so many quillon daggers that follow a fairly standard form, but beyond the basic 'crucifix' styles there are many other forms and this is one of the more interesting ones in my mind. I like it.

A dagger should be snug around your grip and of all the quillon daggers this has that ability to grip around your fist just like a rondel does. A nice design.

Tod

PS Don't forget Black Friday is coming - https://todcutler.com

My pleasure! I think you have certainly hit that balance that you're speaking of, I don't think it could be much better for the price point. It's really a pleasure to look at while being very functional, and I did get that rondel dagger-esque snugness in the grip. Thanks for making great stuff!