My First Dagger

[FrontierForge]

This is my first attempt at a dagger. It's a European Quillon Dagger with fluted Thuya burl handle. The blade is forged from 5160 steel. The cutting edge of the blade is 11 inches long. The guard, bolster, and pommel are mild steel. The handle is made from Thuya burl and has been treated with Carnauba wax. The flutes were hand filed. I definitely need more practice making double edged weapons. Any critique is welcome.

[Daswulf]

Nice work! 

[FrontierForge]

Thank you!

[George N. M.]

Dear FF, Please allow me a few constructive suggestions:  The blade looks good but I think you could improve some of the fittings.  First, the quillions are obviously made from a piece of flat stock, bent and polished.  I suggest that you start out with a thicker piece of stock and draw out the ends of the quillions.  That will give a shape more pleasing to the eye. Grooves or other decorations on the quillions always look nice.  Second, and this is sometimes hard for metal workers, you could improve the shape of the wooden handle.  A) I suggest that the "lands" and "grooves" of the spiral cuts in the handle be symmetrical in cross section.  As it is the grooves are round bottomed and the lands are flat topped.  I think it would look better if the lands were rounded off to match the grooves.  B. You may want to experiment with the "pitch" of the spiral to find the most pleasing angle for the steepness of the spiral.

Is the pommel screwed on or secured by peining over the end of the tang?

Certainly, this is much better than my first dagger.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[FrontierForge]

I definitely see what you are saying about making the lands match. Maybe if they had a wire inlay the flats would look better but as is I will keep that in mind for future projects. The pommel is screwed on and there is epoxy through the handle so there is both a chemical and a mechanical lock. I did the flat stock because I basically second guessed my ability to forge a symmetrical double quillon guard. I appreciate the tips and thank you! 

[SLAG]

Mr. F. F., 

Why must the quillions be symmetrical.

Good job!

Forge away 

SLAG.

[George N. M.]

OK, here is how I would do it.  Let's say you want 3" quillions, measured from the center.  That is 6" total.  And assume that you want them 1/8" thick at the ends. I would take a 3" piece of 1/4" or 3/8" thick stock and mark the center.  Then, mark 3" on the face of your anvil and draw out one end until it is 3" long from center to end.  Then, flip it around and do it on the other end.  Bend to desired shape.  Punch or drill the hole for the tang.  File, grind, and/or polish to final shape and finish.

You could be more accurate about how much metal you need to start with vs. how much you want to have when finished by using the dreaded math and calculating the volume of each.  I just made a SWAG (Scientific Wild A-- Guess, much more accurate than a simple WAG) for the above example.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Chad J.]

I actually like the counterpoint of the hard edges against the curves.  

[JHCC]

15 hours ago, George N. M. said:

using the dreaded math and calculating the volume of each

This is from The Artist Blacksmith by Peter Parkinson:

This is a fancy way of saying:

1. Tapering square stock to a point will triple the length of the starting stock. Start with stock 1/3 the length of the finished taper.
2. Tapering round stock to a point will double the length of the starting stock. Start with stock 1/2 the length of the finished taper.
3. Tapering square stock to a chisel end will double the length of the starting stock. Start with stock 1/2 the length of the finished taper.

17 hours ago, FrontierForge said:

I basically second guessed my ability to forge a symmetrical double quillon guard.

As George says, forge a double-ended taper and then bend to shape. If you don't think the taper is symmetrical enough, file it to shape before bending. Much easier to match flat than curved.