[Boris Bedrosov]

As I already have almost completely finished Rondel-dagger, it's quite normal to want to make the other four of the basic dagger types.

First the baselard was started. As there are several different styles exist, I stopped my attention on this one



Well, I like also the double-T design but now I was restrained by the piece of steel I had.
Let me tell some words about the steel. As the name of the thread implies, I'll use an old file for this project. This gives me some clue about its type - this should be U9, U10 or (unlikely, but plausible) - U12. All these are good tool steels, where U (from Russian word uglerod - Carbon) stands (quite obviously) for Carbon, while 9, 10 and 12 are the Carbon content in the steel (0,9%, 1,0% and 1,2% respectively).

And the work began......
The file with ground teeth and "sharpened" tip (actually, this was done some time ago)



First I wanted to lengthen the forward part of the future blade
Heating



and forging



and again, and again..... until I reached the length I wanted.



After that I lengthened the tang - the one I had was really very short. After some time I already had almost twice longer one



and had nothing more to do but to forge the cutting edges of the blade. Well, this tool steel is not the easiest one to work on, but I think I've done it.

[P Ullrich]

Well done! Looks like a fun project

[Boris Bedrosov]

Today I made some good progress on both blades.
After some normalization the blade was stripped off from the black oxides; this was done by hand-drill and steel wire-brush



Also all excessive metal was removed by some minor cutting and grinding; and the shape and edges were made symetrical. I call all this proccess "calibration".
The rest of the work was simple grinding using a belt-grinder.

The blade after the first, initial pass with grit #40 - I have really A LOT black spots, dents and imperfections



On the belt-grinder again. This is the third pass with grit #40 - after it the blade was looking quite better.



And finally - the blade after the pass with grit #60



I still have some black spots, but far fewer. Actually, the only one that boders me is the spot in the area of the shoulders of the tang at the bottom - I think I won't be able to sand it completely without damiging the edge or altering the cross-section. Anyway - it will be a good hallmark of the hand-forging.

[Ian Hutchison]

Very nice, Boris. I will be interested to see this one finished. I'm always surprised that you have multiple projects at the same time, all at a high standard, and I can barely manage one at a time!

[Bjorn Hagstrom]

I love your posts, Boris! Please keep them coming
And my all time favorite dagger is the baselard, so looking forward to see this one progress!

[Richard Rohlin]

Boris,

Once again, I am watching your posts with a mixture of jealousy and intense interest. Can't wait to see what you do with this one!

[Radovan Geist]

a very promising beginning:)
I wouldn´t be too worried about those black spots, unless they are too deep. You can still polish them with iron brush, and little irregularity could even give the blade a feel of "authenticity" (but of course, that´s a matter of a personal preference).

I´m looking forward to updates.

[Boris Bedrosov]

Well, actually I'm not quite worried by them - almost all will disappear when sanded.
And "yes" - the deepest could really give some touch of authenticity, something I really love.

[Boris Bedrosov]

I haven't written any post for a long time - I'd got some other problems to deal with recently; and the work with both daggers was in a short-time hiatus, but I hope now I'm back again.

Well, the progress so far includes heat-treatment, sanding and polishing of the blade

* after the heat-treatment - the blade was stripped-off from black oxides



** results from the sanding - after grits #120, #220 and some stones and sanding paper up to #600 respectively







*** and the final result after polishing





Although quite lesser, my nemesis with this project - the great black spot/depresion near the shoulders of the tang, still remains. But as already discussed - it will be the hallmark, showing the hand-work.

[Boris Bedrosov]

As I already have the blade finished, it's time to do some work on the hilt.

First, I cut two pieces of steel - 5 mm thick for the guard and 3 mm thick for the pommel; and cut the slots in them



After some bending and shaping I got the guard and pommel almost ready



And both plates after some initial sanding up to grit #120



Some test-fit - almost there, I just need the final, precise fitting of the guard







For the grip of this project I chose somewhat more ordinary wood - namely walnut. In this case it's exremely well dried - the tree has been cut down almost 20 years ago in 1996.
As the block was quite thick (6 cm) I needed to cut it alongside



in order to get a piece just one-third of this - 2 cm

[Boris Bedrosov]

* this is the way I imagine the grip of the baselard



** and some time later, when it was cut



*** as I was not fully satisfied by the shape of the guard, it was re-worked with adding of two trapezoid pieces on both ends





**** the grip in place after it was drilled alongside and matching slot for the tang was cut in



Now I must fit well the grip to both guard and pommel before peening all details in one assembly.

[Kai Lawson]

I love your WIP threads Mr. Bedrosov. They really inspire me to make more of my own stuff. The nice thing is, I can take similar materials and I have pictorial evidence of "what it can look like (if you do it right)"

[Daniel Wallace]

can't wait to see this one finished

[Boris Bedrosov]

The fitting of this grip turned out to be an interesting adventure - regardless what I've done I always got some air between the wood and metal. Finally, with help of some really thin strips of brass (0.25 mm) and even more thinner black paper, I managed to fill these spaces and to assemble the grip





The presence of the wood seriously altered my work - I had no other choice but to peen the tang cold.
Although the tang was annealed well, it started to show some cracks when the work progressed. So, the last couple of milimeters were hot-peened. This was quite challenging job - quick, but powerful heating to bright red, followed by even quicker peening. The walnut was saved, only the epoxy between the wood and pommel showed some strong signs of burning.
The rivet block is again modified nut.

Finally, I added four pins - a couple on each side. These were made from ordinary nails, cut in two - the longer pieces with the nail-heads were placed near the middle, while the shorter ones are near the ends.

[Radovan Geist]

Re: gaps between the wood and steel parts - don´t tell me about that: I was going through that nightmare this weekend, trying to fit handle on my Swiss short sword:) But you did much better! Nicely done, really.

[Boris Bedrosov]

Recently, the baselard had some close encounter with the belt-grinder





My aim here was to straighten the wood from the guard to pommel, in order to prepare it for shaping of the handle. All the curves were filed to their final shape and all excessive wood - removed.
Additionally, a couple of small but nasty cracks in the walnut I've got, were filled with epoxy.

[Kai Lawson]

What's your secret sir--long years of experience? Did you just eat your vegetables? Do you have powers? All your projects look great, and I know I learn loads just following them. You must be learning every day!

[Radovan Geist]

that´s really neat:)
i cant wait for the final result

[Boris Bedrosov]

[Boris Bedrosov]

I rounded the corners of the grip and made another pass on the belt-grinder with #120. After that I handled this dagger as a real weapon for the very first time





Honestly, I'm not quite sure if this should be the correct cross-section of the grip - I shaped it in a way I felt it best for my personal taste.