[Dan D'Silva]

Hoo boy. After decades in production, it appears that Windlass is retiring all their old bare blades (and seemingly replacing them with the same cheap stainless ones that everyone else sells). I panic-ordered a handful upon finding this out, and they've just arrived.

The thing that led to me finding this out was that last week I had yet another project idea. This one is for a little Bauernwehr/mini-Waidpraxe-type thing. I thought their combat blade would make a good starting point because it has a protruding shoulder that can support a pair of bolsters for the finger guard (a one-piece bolster is beyond the tools and skill I have).

I'm not thinking of this as a truly historical project, because the blade is too squat compared to originals, although I did come across a wonderful example that had a very short blade. In any case, as always, I'd like to at least base it on originals, though its features will probably wind up being a bit of a historical mashup.

First thing will be reshaping. As photographed, I've planned the butt to be bird's head-shaped, but I think I'm going to add a flat end instead. With the blade's overall taper, the original slightly dropped point seems preferable to a clip. But I can always add a clip later if I change my mind.

The only thing I'm iffy about right now is where and how to put the nagel. The middle of the three pin holes at the shoulder will be out of line with the new ones in the grip area and I don't like the idea of drilling another one in the same line (perforated shoulder for easy breakage?). It might be an interesting challenge to give the nagel two shanks so it can sit between two holes, but right now I'm leaning toward just accepting that the nagel will sit closer to the shoulder than it should.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated!

[Dan D'Silva]

Reshaped tang with a new line for the butt, along with one of the other ones I ordered and patterns for scales and bolsters. I'm pretty sure I'll put the nagel in the central of the original three holes. Right now I'm wondering if a 1/8-inch-thick shank is too thin for a nagel or a 1/8-inch-thick nagel is too flimsy overall. My hunting cleaver has a side ring made from 1/4-inch stock with the shank ground down to 3/16-inch, but even just 3/16-inch would require redrilling the hole.

[William P]

if needed you could just plug the holes in the guard area with steel pins and redrill new ones bu based on the original, having a nagel right in the centre of the bolster seems about right

[Dan D'Silva]

I would, but I had a go at the new pin holes today and the steel is way harder than I expected. I'm thinking two new holes and enlarging the one for the nagel is the most I'll want/be able to do, and that's after I get some new drill bits.

Meantime, hooray! I found a model for this that's actually about the same size and shape, third post down on this thread. It's not an exact match -- the spine side of the tang doesn't line up and the original has a fuller cutting edge and spear point -- but I've modified the shape of the tang to be as close as I can get it.

Hafting materials are on order; I needed some wider pieces of steel for the bolsters than the 1-1/2" stock I have on hand and I'm going for American walnut scales even though they're probably not period because I think dark brown will look nice here and I don't want to do everything in oak.

[P Ullrich]

[Dan D'Silva]

[Dan D'Silva]

Haven't been totally idle, just backlogged with too many projects and ideas for projects. The bolsters are mostly shaped, just need to de-epoxy and take them off for some refinement on the mini belt sander.

By the way, this little blade weighs almost a pound with the bolsters in place! Maybe they should be thinner or not go so far up the grip?

[Alex Indman]

Dan,

I am curious, is there a gap between bolsters where they form that little fingerguard extension (since there is no blade there)? Did you work around this problem somehow?

Alex.

[Dan D'Silva]

It may look like I lengthened the guard, but actually the tang has an extension for the guard built in. Possibly it looks longer in my photos than in the online catalogue because of the bolsters, or because I made the grip area narrower.

I set the pins and drilled the nagel a few weeks ago, but I've been busy studying for a certification exam and haven't worked on the nagel since then. I've just gone and cut it out. It's going to be shaped like the one on my hunting cleaver, so I'll put a groove in the side of the bolster for the ring's base to fit into. After that I'll start cleaning up all the dings and grime.

[Dan D'Silva]

Things had been going swimmingly (or about as much as can be expected); the scales are glued and nearly done shaping and the nagel was ready to be set. However, I've been hammering on the nagel pin for the last 20 minutes and can't flatten out that last millimeter and a half, which is leaving the nagel at the point where it won't completely pull out or rotate in the hole, but it won't stop wiggling either.

[Dan D'Silva]

After another 40+ minutes I got the last of the ring pin set, although I wasn't able to completely grind off the thin edge of the peen and it's still threatening to fold up, forming a nasty little burr. I'll deal with it sooner or later.

For a long time I'd been thinking of attaching the scales with solid pins peened over decorative washers, but I couldn't find any evidence that that was done before the 17th century. In the end I went a slightly more historical route and used hollow brass tube.

I first tried to set the pins using a drill punch to give them just a little flare, but it was too narrowly tapered and kept getting jammed inside. I wound up filing the end of a nail into a wider cone. I think this worked pretty well and was faster and neater than setting solid pins.

The scales are sanded and given a first coat of oil. The whole hilt still needs a little cleanup here and there, maybe a second coat of oil, and varnish, but it's reached the point where it's not going to look significantly different when it's all finished.




Now it's time to start planning the sheath, and I'm already a bit stumped. The blade is super-short and the hilt has a lot of metal, so it's top-heavy and seems like it would overbalance any sheath it was put into. If it were a modern knife, the answer would be a retaining strap with a snap button attached to a long belt loop, but snap buttons were quite rare in the 16th century.

[Mikko Kuusirati]

Shaping up quite nicely!

Snap buttons might have been rare but thongs and toggles were common.

Also, can you make a chape heavy enough to counterbalance the heavy hilt?

[Dan D'Silva]

Thank you!

I'll look into how to add a loop and toggle. Are you picturing one that connects to a long belt loop and goes around the grip or one that goes over the finger guard?

I generally make chapes from thin sheet metal (the only exception so far has been a cast bronze one for my Persian akinakes) so, unless it seems feasible to fill one with lead, the counterweight would have to come from a really heavy finial. If I can find an example of a big finial from around the right time and place to get a general idea of how they might've looked, and figure out how to make one, then I'd give it a try. As is, I wouldn't know where to start.

[Mikko Kuusirati]

Depends on how you want to wear it, I think. That said, all the examples from period art (Bruegel etc.) I can think of are hung at an angle, either by thongs or laces from a separate belt or on a narrow integrated belt (sometimes slung around the neck or shoulders), and I can't think of any historical examples of the modern long belt loop with retaining strap. So from that perspective a short strap hooked over the guard might be more historically defensible?

Another idea might be to simply wear it together with a belt pouch, in the manner shown here by Durer:



That should hold the knife quite stable and not allow it to tip over. You can also stick the knife horizontally through the belt loops of the pouch, or diagonally through one loop, or whatever feels convenient and secure.

Occasionally you also see rondel daggers in particular tucked under a belt, so they stay the right way up despite the heavy hilt, and then tied down securely with the integral thongs and a suitably decorative knot. I can't recall ever seeing a knife worn like that, specifically, but the idea was present and I'm sure somebody somewhere did it.

PS. Or, taking another cue from Durer, you could make it into a set with small byknife and/or pricker? Very popular back in the day, and it would add a significant bit of weight to the sheath to help it hang the right way up.