Hi Glen! Thanks. I was aware of that style but it slipped my mind. There's something very visually appealing about the very streamlined dagger with no quillons or even no guard at all. That's one reason I always liked akinakai and those Glen McClain whingers with the super-compact guards. I've even been toying with a fairly ahistorical idea, sort of a
ballock dagger but with a more subtle design that's halfway toward a whinger (now I'm getting used to working the soft brass bar stock from Crazy Crow, making a guard like this ought to be possible). I'm not sure I could quite manage an Italian dagger with this blade since it seems like it needs a sizable ricasso, but I tried to use some inspiration from the style in designing this one's grip.
The other idea that occurs is basically a little cuttoe with a shortened blade, since there's at least one example from early in the century, I know a few cuttoes had double-edged blades later on and the "knife reground from broken sword" is not unheard-of historically. Though, when I put the guard and blade together, the guard looks oversized (which I also feel about the original Crazy Crow dagger).
Now I check Withers & Capwell, they show a stiletto that's supposed to be early to mid-18th century. But the blade I've got is much too broad for that style.
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