[Alexander Hinman]

Rather than offer any big design suggestions, I suggest you hold the weapon in your hand, perhaps taping the lower rondel to the protruding tang so it stays together. Maybe perform some gentle thrusting motions, perhaps against a block of styrofoam, underhand and overhand, with it. Decide how it feels.

Does the top/bottom guard need to be thinned?

Should the handle have a different shape? Should it be thinner? Widen at the center, front, or leave as is?

I doubt, because of how beautiful the grain is, you're going to want to wrap it in anything, but it's a thought.


Now, personally, I agree with most of Jonathan's suggestions.

The hilt does seem to be overpowering the blade, though I think the 'roundness' of the guard isn't as much of a problem as its thickness.

So, if it were me (and only if it were me), I'd thin the guards and perhaps add a kind of 'crenellation' to them, so that they looked somewhat like cogs. I like the convex aspect, and think it adds alot of character to the weapon.

I'd also change the handle shape so it was more oblong in cross-section and give it a slight, slight bulge in the centre, similar to the Sovereign or Kern handle... but that's basically it.

Again, these are just my personal preferences, hopefully giving you ideas.

Edit: Oh, and piercework on the plates, to see the (varnished) wood underneath would, in my opinion, look really cool.

[Shane Allee]

Ok, here is the best close up of those dagger that I could get.



While looking at a design on one of the rondels in the rondel article I happened to notice why I had just assumed that these were a rondel and didn't even think about them possibly being a ballock dagger.

"The earliest rondel daggers had only one discoidal guard between the blade and grip. The top of the hilt featured a separate pommel or a globular expansion that was part of the grip, or the grip flared widely and was capped with a metal plate."

It is hard to tell from pictures, so who knows.

I took a scrapped grip for the rondel and did a thin barrel shape with it to see how it would look on it. Seems ok to us and since most people seem to be liking that style we might go with that shape. It also made the overall hilt look much smaller and thinner, something else that was mentioned as well. We looked over the leather we have, but still aren't sure if we want to try it or not. I also ground on a few scrap disk we had, but really didn't care for the look of them being flat with the metal or concave. So the rondels will be staying the same other than maybe something with the plates.

Mark did do a great job with this blade Jean. I have yet to meet anyone that can hollow grind anywhere near what he can. My pictures didn't turn out, but I just got my la Tene I blade from him and it has a two foot mid rib on it. With the 3/8" mid ribs I'm pretty sure you could stab through about anything with them.

Shane

[Al Muckart]

Hi Shane,

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Eric McHugh]

Those daggers in the picture look like ballock daggers to me. You do find these "simpler" ballock daggers that were not as defined as the "better'' examples of the day. On many of these basic ballock daggers, the "ballock" guard is a simple curved piece of metal (iron or bronze). In addition, rondels are characterized by the discs at the top and bottom, thus the name "rondel." It would be rare to see a rondel with only one disc.

My question is "why not use actual photos for your source." Period art often features "stylized" elements that can often be misleading because they are not the point of the art in the first place. In practice, period art should only be used in direct association with real sources. This allows a person to balance certain "artistic" compromises with the real weapon being depicted. myArmoury has articles and photos of actual rondels that would serve as a better source and inspiration for a project.

With that said, your wifes work is tight and it is clear that she is doing fine work on the details. Keep it up.

Anyway just some thoughts.

[Chad Arnow]