[Radovan Geist]

This project has actually started two years back. I wanted to make a dagger suitable for "destreza" - Spanish rapier fencing. I did not plan to follow any particular historical piece, but the plan was to include all typical attributes of these daggers: a long and complex blade, a long & straight crossbar / quillon, combined with a triangular shell guard. Due to limitations of my skills and available tools, I have decided to decorate the shell guard only with a simple file-work.

So, the blade was made two years back from a piece of high carbon steel (a standard CSN 14 260 steel). I have cut and shaped it with angle grinder, with lots of filing and polishing. The final piece is 48 cm long (blade itself measures 36 cm), 2.5 cm broad at the ricasso part, and 1.3 cm broad at the "sharp" part. It was made blunt, because the plan is to use the dagger for training and stage combat.
The blade was heat-treated by an external company. I was really happy by the result - with a complex design like that I was afraid that it cold be bent or whatever, but they did a perfect job. The result is on picture 1.

After that I was working on other project, so this one waited on a shelf for a long time. Some time back, I have finally started to work on a shell guard. It was cut from a 2mm thick plate of mild steel and shaped with angle grinder. Using a drilling machine and needle files, I have started to work on decorations. The rough work (pictures 2, 3) took me at least 12 hours altogether, plus some more time on cleaning details etc.

The last picture shows the guard bent to (more or less) final shape.
(sorry for low-quality pictures, my mobile-phone camera is really shitty after dark...)

I will post more pictures soon.

[Mark Moore]

That will look outstanding when assembled! I really like the long, thin 'blade-catchers' you incorporated into the blade. Keep us posted! ......McM

[Radovan Geist]

Thank you, Mark.
Some more progress pictures: the cross-guard was made from a mild steel bar of 15 mm in diameter (however, the bar was somewhat rusty, so I had some 13 mm of usable material at the end) - see picture 1.
Quillons were turned on lathe and shaped with angle grinder (picture two shows a semi-finished quillon), and then filed to final shape, with spiral fluting both along the quillons, and on terminal knobs. The central part where the shell-guard plate would be attached, was left without any decoration, and has been flattened.
Unfortunately, I do not have a usable picture of the final cross-guard, so on to the next stage: the shell-guard was riveted & welded to the cross-guard, and the hole for tang was drilled & filed in the center. The last picture shows the whole guard assembled on the blade.

Next steps: fine-tuning decorations on the guard, making handle (wood with parallel twisted-wire inserts) and the pommel. And then lots of filing and polishing to give it a smooth finish.

[Mark Moore]

That's looking great! I was wondering....do you plan on putting colored leather or felt on the underside of the guard, to show through the piercings, or just leave it open? I've seen daggers of this type with the leather or felt, and it looks really nice. Either way, yours will look fabulous! ..........McM

[Radovan Geist]

Thanks Mark. I was thinking about using a coloured leather backing (I did it on another dagger I´ve made, and it works well), but probably would not do it this time, mostly because none of the daggers that I used as an inspiration for this piece had one.
I have some little update, so here it goes:
The handle was made from a piece of dark a dark chestnut wood, shaped with angle grinder (with rasp disc), rasp, and sand paper. Usually, I first make a basic shape a drill a tang-hole, then put it on a blade (picture 1), and then fine-tune it while directly on blade. It helps me to keep symmetric proportions.
I´ve made a channel for twisted wire with hand saw (picture 2), and the handle was reinforced with steel ferules on both sides.
The pommel was turned on a lathe and threaded (it will be screwed onto the blade) - picture 3. I have also drilled a hole (perpendicularly to the tang) and threaded it - the top of the shell-guard will be secured to the pommel with a screw. I have seen it on some daggers with shell-guard (for example this one: https://sk.pinterest.com/pin/457959855835396694/ ). In fact, I´m not completely sure how much (if at all) it was really used on exactly this type of daggers, but I can still make a different pommel and re,make the top of the shell-guard, if I decided otherwise.(any advise would be appreciated)
Anyways, the last picture shows a nearly-complete piece. As the last thing, I will again dissemble it, polish the blade, clean and polish the file-work, etc. And make a scabbard, of course.

[Radovan Geist]

The whole piece has been cleaned, I have also added some more file-work to the shell-guard. I am including only some pictures of the finalised shell-guard; pictures of the complete dagger will be added later, when I have a chance to take them in a daylight.

[Mark Moore]

Beautiful ! You should be very proud! Keep us updated on the progress! .......McM

[Radovan Geist]

Thank you, Mark, it´s appreciated So here we go:

The scabbard was made from three layers of leather, with some simple decoration. Picture 1 shows the scabbard with chape (I haven´t made that one - I bought it at some Reenactment fair, can´t remember where).

A simple heart-haped design was filed into the chape, to mach the shell-guard. I have also added metal locket, made from a strip of sheet steel (1 mm thick), with the same decoration on front, and a belt loop on the back side. Next three pictures are showing the final set.

I will now sharpen the decoration on scabbard, and seal everything with wax. And that would be it:)

[Mark Moore]

Awesome work! I would NOT have had your patience for all that intricate filework and piercings, but it surely paid off! That is spectacular! Now.....Get busy and build a matching rapier to keep it company!!! .....McM

[Julien M]

Really awesome. You've raced through a very complicated project - really admire your "just do it attitude"!
Very nice dagger indeed.
J

[Radovan Geist]

Thank you, Julian, thank you, Mark. A matching rapier is being planned, but I need to get hold of a suitable blade. It might take time. In the meanwhile I will keep myself busy with some other projects.