[Dan D'Silva]

Hello again. I'm putting together an Andronovo culture impression (Central Asia, latter 2nd millennium BCE) and I'd like to include something to cut with. I'm looking at two options and I'm not sure where to get either of them.

The basic Andronovo/Srubna dagger is leaf-shaped to triangular with rounded indents at the shoulders, and a half-tang without rivet holes (presumably held in place by glue; I don't know what the hilt should look like, though). I'm not sure of the size range either, but they could be quite small. The other, less preferable option (although I do personally like it better) is the early akinakes used by cultures overlapping the Andronovo horizon in northern Kazakhstan and western Siberia. I actually had a pommel ornament cast for one of these.

Other than paying hundreds of dollars for a one-off casting (which runs the risk of failure with the old ceramic shell/gravity method, which would mean having to start from square one and make a new wax) the only idea I have at the moment is to get a bronze blade from Albion's moat sale, assuming they still have any, and reshape it with an angle grinder to make one of the simpler Andronovo blades. I think this is workable, but I'd rather avoid it.

Do you think there are any other possibilities? Something I've overlooked or a more creative idea?

[Matthew Amt]

Yeah, casting what you want or grinding down from something you don't want are about the only options. "Neil Burridge" was the first thing to pop into my head, of course! You could shoot him some pictures and get a really nice piece. But if you can come up with a decent model, there are other places that could cast it for you. I should think. Never really looked into that.

The Albion "boat anchors" certainly have enough meat on them to get whatever you want. Though I'm wondering if you might prefer to just order a piece of stock in a known alloy, rather than go with the mostly-copper mystery metal that India came up with for Albion.

Keep us posted!

Matthew

[Dan D'Silva]

Thanks. Yeah, I was afraid of this. I actually have some waxes already, but they're in storage until I make my mind up to pay through the nose to have them cast. I looked into this sort of thing eight or nine years ago and was told by a former teacher of mine who now runs a private foundry that a single sword would run, at that time, about three hundred dollars at cost -- most places I contacted would've charged even more. I'll write to Neil, but it's hard to say what will come of it; AFAIK I'm the only one in the market for this type of blade, and with stone molds, all the work would be at his end.

Strange as it sounds, I think the Albions are actually cheaper than bar stock would be, unless I've been looking in the wrong places for it.

[Tim Mathews]

Good morning ,
My friend Gary Zahradka at Omega Artworks does some beautiful stuff in bronze . Not all of it is neccesarily historical but check him out .
art@zahradka-art.com

[J. Nicolaysen]

Chris Levantino does bronze weapons in the US and he may be interested in the project. His stuff isn't finished near as well as Neil's and I trust Neil's accuracy vastly more, but Chris may be more open to doing a project like this. I have this Danish Bronze dagger by Chris which isn't at all what you are looking for, but it shows some of what he does. Chris also has some swords available at Kult of Athena. He might even send you a failed casting you could work into a dagger http://bronzeagewarrior.com/all-products/danish-bronze-knife

But if it was my project, I would contact Orjan Engedal. He really seems to have very very nice things and I'd like to get a piece or two from him. He is working through several different weapon types and ages and his quality and accuracy look top notch.
http://www.bronsereplika.no/

He's got a dagger section under development, so I don't know what he has planned. So he may be very interested in working in your type of dagger...

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Dan D'Silva]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I've sent e-mails this morning and I'll wait on their replies.