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Glennan Carnie
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 Posted: Wed 12 May, 2010 7:41 am Post subject: New Tudor ballock dagger from Tod's Stuff |
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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... 
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Jeremy V. Krause
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| Posted: Wed 12 May, 2010 9:18 am Post subject: |
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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
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Thom R.
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| Posted: Wed 12 May, 2010 9:56 am Post subject: |
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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
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Philip Melhop
Location: Wokingham, Berkshire, UK Joined: 24 May 2008
Posts: 132
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| Posted: Wed 12 May, 2010 12:55 pm Post subject: |
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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  On top of that he is just a really nice guy to know and deal with. Yep i'm fully fledged fanboy 
Phil
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Martin Francis
Location: Northumberland, UK Joined: 27 Sep 2008
Posts: 32
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| Posted: Fri 14 May, 2010 7:39 am Post subject: |
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| Philip Melhop wrote: | 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 On top of that he is just a really nice guy to know and deal with. Yep i'm fully fledged fanboy
Phil |
I almost hesitate to do a "me too" post on this august forum, but sometimes it can't be avoided. I've also been bitten by the Tod bug. I started to make a list of things that my partner and I have bought from him over the years; unfortunately my hand's too cramped to continue writing........
No, we don't have much money left but hey, most toys wins, right ?
Worthy praise for a worthy bloke.
Martin
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Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team
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| Posted: Fri 14 May, 2010 8:10 am Post subject: |
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Good stuff from Tod, as always. I'm another convert.  I have the privilege of owning a number of his items as well.
ChadA
http://chadarnow.com/
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