[Luka Borscak]

I encircled the part where I see the pattern welding if that helps anybody...

[Tyler C.]

I have just found that on the back of the blade there is a simple design cut into the flat. There is a large perpendicular cut which is immediately obvious, but on closer inspection there are other cuts behind the large cut (closer to the handle) that from a cross between two lines, and other lines that extend forward from the larger cut. I highlighted these cuts in the pictures below.

I have seen similar designs on the back edge of seax blades. Could this be evidence to support the idea that this could be a repurposed seax, or are similar designs found on medieval blades too?

[Mikko Kuusirati]

It could easily be post-Medieval, too. Might even be Scottish - not the stereotypical Victorian dirk, but some older styles feature organic hilts with blades exactly like this.

[Mikko Kuusirati]

BTW, here's one example of 18th Century twisted steel with a similar pattern: http://www.oriental-arms.co.il/item.php?id=3837

[Sean Manning]

The other thing which occurs to me is that a full-length whittle tang peened over a washer is a relatively fancy feature, most knives have just enough of a tang to anchor the blade in the grip. That supports the evidence of the blade shape that this dates sometime after 1300.

I get the impression that there were a lot of 14th century hilts carved or turned from wood/horn/ivory which don't fit nicely into our categories.

[Tyler C.]

[Sean Manning]

[Tyler C.]