[Ryan A. Currier]

Insert expletive. Jaw drop.

That is beautiful...

[Sean Flynt]

I'm out of words, so I'll just stare.

[Christian G. Cameron]

This is quickly reaching the point where I can't actually earn money fast enough to buy what Tod makes. i\I feel this is unfair.

[Jeremy V. Krause]

Wow. . . . just wow. . . . The beautiful sheath really completes the package here.

[Bryce Felperin]

[Jean Thibodeau]

Well, words sort of fail how nice this dagger and scabbard has turned out to be ......

About the scabbard does one have to be careful about inserting the dagger to make sure that the asymmetrical ricasso is going in the right way or can one insert it either way ?

Practical question since one doesn't want to insert it wrong and force it in if the scabbard has a specific bias for main edge versus false edge when putting the dagger back in the scabbard ?

I'm not too worried about myself forcing in the dagger and damaging the scabbard but I'm thinking more of some Canada Customs inspector trying to force the dagger back in if insertion isn't symmetrical/reversable. ( I have had in the past cases of badly inserted swords in scabbards by not very knowledgeable people .... no real damage then but the potential was there if some DOOFUS tried to force something in ! )

Some note with/on the dagger to explain this to the Customs guys/galls if this is relevant, maybe ?

[Tim Lison]

That is just outstanding! Jean, you must be very excited! To, great job, as always! How would his dagger be suspended from a belt? Would you just loop a bit of leather around the scabbard and run it through a belt or what?

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Julien M]

Jean, I've seen and held your dagger yesterday at Owen's bushforge gathering (along with 3 dozen of Tod's daggers and eating knives, a real treat! ) ...it is absolutely gorgeous (the scabbard in itself is jawdropping). Holding it you get an immediate understanding of the purpose of the design, that provides an amazingly confortable and strong grip to stab downwards. A princely weapon indeed!

Lucky you.

J

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Jean Thibodeau]

Well, it's on it's way and the compulsive checking the tracking first every day and then every hour transitioning to every few minutes as it gets closer and closer with the usual " stuck in customs " for a day or ten.

Just a word on the ordering process and experience with Leo before I can actually comment on the dagger in hand:

I appreciate the quick replies to e-mails and his whole customer service at all stages of the process that is, as good as any, or better than the best of the best I have received so far from any maker.

I have to mention how positive was the whole design, ordering and follow up process was and highly recommend having a custom project made by Leo or just looking at what he has on hand on his site(s).

If I didn't fully mean it I wouldn't bother making a point of expressing how much of a pleasant experience this was.

[Nathan Robinson]

Jean, I just looked up some info and the dagger is well on its way to San Francisco. I should see it any day now. We're all good!

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Leo Todeschini]

Jean Thibodeau wrote

[Jean Thibodeau]

Got it late last week and I'm sort of late making comments on it, although I let Leo know right away that it had arrived safely.

Been sort of busy up here with a Federal election so a lot of my Internet browsing time is taken up looking up Political Blogs and looking at news and polls, so that is sort of why I didn't post this sooner.

O,K, just to get the suspense out of the way: I'm very pleased and impressed with it but it's going to take me
a bit of time playing with it and admiring it before I can do it justice in words.

One thing I noticed is that although the consensus is that this dagger type can only be best used with the ice pic grip I have found that if one uses the normal grip with the thumb on the side with the longer ricasso one has a usable grip.

I'm sort of speculating that this may be the reason why most Eared Daggers have this asymmetrical longer ricasso
on one side ???

In the Ice pic grip the thumb works great between the ears as Tod showed in his pics but I also think that the " bolts "
or lugs ( whatever you call them ) would also help with the ears in quickly withdrawing the dagger which can be useful
if one is fighting more than one person or of one has pierced heavy clothing or a " secrète " maille shirt or jack.

I also think that the robust scabbard with a heavy metal bit at the end could be used by itself to parry or
even with the knife in the scabbard ( The scabbard would take some damage but that is of little importance
if you can save yourself using the scabbard to block a sword ). The chape is quite substantial and one could
strike down with it, not to mention also very well made and attractive.

After the parry one could withdraw the dagger and use it. For a less than lethal situation one could also use
the dagger/scabbard like a short baton. ( Having non lethal options can be useful in a civilian context ).

The scabbard also has matching decorative inserts identical to the the small ones on the ears.

The contrast between the black horn disks and the white handle scales is very attractive.

Here are a few statistics:

Total length:15"

Handle legnth: 5"

Weight: 15 oz.

Blade and tang thickness: 3/8" , there is some distal taper but the blade is still close to 3/16" thick and inch or so from the point.

The hollow grind it very deep with a centre ridge very prominent and tapers off to a flat ground 1 1/4" from the tip making the tip almost a reinforced one.

Although very much a dedicated stabbing blade the hollow grind does transition to a narrow edge with a narrow secondary bevel.


The scabbard has a perfect friction fit and the blade won't fall out easily if the scabbard is held upside down.

The finish is close to mirror but one can still see some very light grind marks or hand finishing with a very fine abrasive, but nothing I find as a negative. ( I only mention it to give an honest review or what to expect: To me this is very consistent with Leo's making of knives that look as if they are period made ).


The edges as received needed only a few passes with a white ceramic ( extra fine ) to get them to paper cutting sharp, although with this style of dagger a very fine edge is just a bonus and even a butter knife edge would be sufficient.

The ice pic grip is very comfortable with the thumb between the ears and as I mentioned at the top one can use the normal blade forward grip if one extends one's thumb to the top of the longer ricasso: This feels a bit odd due to the balance of the dagger with it POB at the first blade pin in the white handle horn closest to the blade: So I would conclude that one could use it in a limited way point forward but 99% of the time it would be preferable to use the ice pic grip for serious fighting, but who knows one might still want to use the sharp edge to cut something if one didn't have a sharp By-Knife on one's person ?

Oh, the ears are also useful since with the thumb between the ears when one takes the dagger out of it's round scabbard one knows exactly what is the orientation of the edges.

The blade also fits into the scabbard either way, so one doesn't have to worry about having the long or the short edge on the right side when inserting the blade back into the scabbard.

Bottom line, very pleased with this dagger and the more I play with it the more I speculate that the ears have a function and do much more than just being an aesthetic choice ! This knife is really elegant.

Oh, and for the relatively reasonable price one gets a great deal of value from Leo for a totally custom knife and the shipping and ordering from England was as easy and maybe even faster than from the U.S.A. ( Just mentioning this for those a little shy about ordering from overseas. )