small medieval knife -- myArmoury.com

Don Halter · Industry Professional

I eventually plan on reproducing my entire collection, and this is one of the first few. i chose a small wrought iron guard, but it seems to kind of make it modern looking. Don't get me wrong, I love the way it feels and looks...I was just wondering what suggestions some of y'all might have for handle treatment. The handle is axis antler rounded on the base and polished, no pommel. The tang is shoved down in deep and set with /gasp/ epoxy. I barbed the tang to prevent pull-out.

Anyways, let me know your thoughts and suggestions as I have several more to finish up that are very similar.

PS: This one is donated to a charity auction benefiting knifemaker Shane Ivie who recently passed. If you're interested, email me. krag@kragaxe.com

John McFarlin · Posted: Tue 11 Apr, 2006 2:56 am Post subject:

That is a very nice knife sir.

I am not familiar with any medieval knives having a drop point, but I am not the super-expert. I am accustomed to medieval knives which have a straight spine with the widest point of the blade being toward the handle.

John

Compagniye du Chalis: 1370-1420
www.mron.org

Don Halter · Industry Professional

I have around 35 or so originals of knife blades, arrow heads and axeheads from Roman times on up through 1600's. I have several blades like you describe estimated to be from the more recent of the range. Most all of the earlier ones have a drop point. I have a few broken-back seax shaped blades with 3" blades...one with a double fuller. The blade shapes are pretty easy to reproduce...the handles on the other hand are pretty much speculation.

P.S. I'll eventually get some essays done with the axe heads. I cut one into a few sections and will polish/etch to show the multiple types of iron/steel used in the construction. It was one a farmer pretty much destroyed the value of anyway. He thought it would be worth more without the crust/rust layer, so he took an angle grinder to the surface! It's a carpenter's axe from a shipbuilding area along the German/Danish coast.

Steve Grisetti · Posted: Tue 11 Apr, 2006 4:30 pm Post subject: Re: small medieval knife

Don Halter · Industry Professional

Here's a few originals. My version rolled over a bit in the scanner so it looks kinda skinny in this picture, but most of the dimentions are the same. Mine sweeps up at the tip about 3/16" higher than the original.

The others are just some neat little ones I have. The bottom one has a double fuller along the spine on the right side. The broken-back seax shaped one is about 2 1/4" long. None of these have undergone electrolysis and preservation yet. More detail can be seen after being cleaned up usually.

John McFarlin · Posted: Sat 15 Apr, 2006 10:53 pm Post subject:

Sir, yes, my focus is on the late medieval, so I understand that the earlier examples have the drop point form.

As well, I don't buy into the idea that the medieval mind didn't like variation--some people are very anal about saying "This style of X wasn't seen in this time frame," when we have so very few examples to judge the whole range of what existed. I'm more open, assuming that styles from earlier eras might well have been used, but that we might not have any evidence for it.

So, I'm happy to understand more about what was there, definitely!

John

Compagniye du Chalis: 1370-1420
www.mron.org

Douglas Meek · Posted: Sun 16 Apr, 2006 6:17 am Post subject:

heh i aggree with you John. I think that if you can make it with there tools they could make it with there tools.

Greyson Brown · Posted: Sun 16 Apr, 2006 7:13 am Post subject:

Since now one else has adressed the question of handle treatments, I might make one suggestion. I thinks it is the slight curvature of the back (spine side) of the handle that makes it resemble a more modern blade. This is something that you are just going to experience with antler. If you chose another material or did a little work on the back of the handle, you might be able to get a straighter looking grip, and I think that would help to bring it in line with what we think of when one talks about historical pieces.

That said, a small fixed blade utility knife is one of those things where there can only be so much variation (and there probably doesn't need to be as much variation as there is). I think what you have made is perfectly viable. It does have a slightly modern look to it, but I think that does more to show that we haven't improved on those old designs quite so much as we would like to think, rather than being any comentary on your construction.

-Grey