Ok don't laugh. Here's my first attempt at knife making: specifically a rondel dagger. This dagger is at the end of a very long road having started it's life as a sword. Specifically the MRL Shrewsbury sword which some of you have heard me gripe about on here. If you haven't, here's a synopsis.

I bought the Shrewsbury sword from MRL back in 1992. It was my second sword and my first Windlass Steelcrafts. Within a few months of owning it, the grip wrap, a suede like leather, began to peel. Eventually, the grip peeled all the way off, leaving the bare wood grip underneath exposed. Since this was made in four pieces boxed around the tang, in no time this fell apart too. After a failed attempt to replace the grip, I set it aside where it sat for more than a few years.

Then, I read an article on this site that spoke about wraping grips (part of the instant antique article) as well as several topics in the forums. I figured if they could do it, I could too. Then I read somewhere about how sometimes broken swords were made into daggers. That led to this project.

I took my Shrewsbury sword over to my uncle's house. He works as a machinist and has a full machine shop in his basement. He cut the sword in half and we fashioned a tang from the wide end of the blade. Then, he fashioned a rivet block of sorts and using two fender washers, we put the blade together. A sandwich grip of poplar covered with chamois stained with brown shoe polish made the grip. Finally, to cover the unsightly hole at the top, I wrapped copper wire around the rivet block.

The blade and upper rondel with file work.

The remainder of the Shrewsbury. Note the welded rod on the tang.

I just realized how lousy a photographer I am. I'll take new ones tomorrow when the light is good. Anyhow, I want to thank Sean Flynt for his informative article and Greyson Brown for his tips in the forums on how he does his grips. I went ahead and did another sword grip just because it was so much fun.

My MRL Knightly hand and a half sword. Used to have a black grip with one riser. Now it has a red grip with three risers.

I really like it. Definitely a lot better than the Shrewsberry sword in it's original form. Rondels seem to be an excellent place for beginners to start making stuff. I myself am working on one (also my first project) right now. Good job man!

Looks nice! I like the hexagonal grip.

Nice work, Johnathan. What did the stats end up being for it? Do you have any plans for the other half of the sword?

Johnathan Blair wrote:

I went ahead and did another sword grip just because it was so much fun.

It can be quite addictive. I ended up with a customized maglite, and hip flask. I also bought a waster, more or less for the purpose of doing a grip on it. I keep resisting the urge to wrap pens, drinking glasses, door handles, and pretty much anything else that you could wrap a bit of leather around. Maybe there is some kind of custom gift type thing that can be done with some of those ideas, but there is no sense in making a leather-wrapped fore-end for an M16 that the Army isn't going to let me take home. :lol:

-Grey