[Merv Cannon]

Hi......Our grand-foobah club leader has an original c.14thCent. dagger blade. He obtained it many years ago from a collector when he was in London. Having (almost) finished setting up my new workshop, he asked me to make a handle for it so we both set out checking our references. It was found in the Thames mud and is in excellent condition which always amazes me. It has a triangular blade with a partial fuller on the angular sides and is still sharp ! The original owner put it as mid 1300's to mid 1400's but it looks to me quite like some of the Mary Rose blades. My friend said he had seen two only like it in the Museum of London and the handles would certinally be of the suitable type. Unfortunately he only had taken Video footage of them which was as good as was possible at the time. While I was gazing at this image ( VHS ) still-framed on the screen at my friend's house, my girlfriend said.."why dont we try to take a still off the TV screen on my digital camera ?" Now, having been a commercial - advertising photographer and Audio-Visual producer for over twenty years, I did'nt know weather to laugh or cry at the suggestion ! But I've also learnt to give things a try....and guess what....it kinda worked ! So I zapped back home and started playing around with it on Photoshop. Photoshop has been a great tool for me for revealing and sharpening up details on paintings and drawings for my historical research. I've been able to find mistakes on suggested re-constructions and expose new fine details, etc. Anyway, this wasnt exactlly a period painting that I had to work with, but I was able to see lines and details well enough on a big monitor to do a reasonable job of reproducing what was the only reference available to me. The little carved button at the top was decorative only, but was on the originals. When I was making this I felt that the grip was on the small size for the blade and my friend thought the same when he first saw it and then he held it....when you hold it it fits into the hand so well....both under and over grip. It's sort of a hybred handle .....the top is a bit Swiss Basilard-like and the bottom......well, it kinda wanted to be a "Ballock" but it stopped growing in it's early teens ! The original had what looked to me like a wooden cover plate on the grip as the top of the tang flairs out wide.........finally I put the two rivets through the original holes. Wish I could have kept it !!

[Greyson Brown]

That looks really nice. My first impression was that it might be a bit bulky, rather than a bit small, but I also think it would be very comfortable. That is one of the great things about this stuff. We don't all have to agree on much of it, and that leads to some pretty exciting variation, extrapolation, and interpretation. I also like those things that I find to be just ever so slightly awkward looking, but can tell without even touching them that they would do exactly what they were meant to do and do it well.

Congratulations on the great work!

-Grey

[Merv Cannon]

Thanks Greyson.....I should have done a shot of it in the hand....it looks big in the close-up shots but its really quite small . I wanted it to look a bit aged and worn to match the blade. Another one of our members got a nice original sword and dagger recently while on a holiday Czechoslovakia. He said they had many (verified) original items for sale and were very cheap there.

Cheers !