Dagger design help please

Stew

Well-Known Member
Over on British Blades we're having a dagger KITH. After Owen Bush's hammer-in I was inspired by Jake Powning's talk on knotwork and when I got home I pulled my copy of George Bain's book out of the loft and I've decided that I would like to incorporate some sort of knotwork carving on the dagger.

However, I'm struggling with working out what is an acceptable design and wondered if you guys could point me to some suitable examples.

I could design and make something by myself quite easily but I don't want it to be a real bastardised dagger with elements from hugely differing periods and places. (ie using guards or not) I appreciate that I'm a Brit alive in 2011 so it's never going to be the same but I would like it to at least have a basic similarity!

I'm flexible to a time period and place. Viking, celtic, etc. The main thing is that I actually get a connection with the piece as many pictures I've looked at have left me a bit uninspired. Also, it needs to be something I could do some knotwork on.

Does anyone have any genuine pictures of period pieces or know where I can go to see some please? Using Google Images doesn't inspire too much faith as I suspect there's a huge commercial element to the pieces.
 
Dirks are about the only type that come to mind that commonly featured knotwork. It is notable that the two types most closely related to the dirk, the ballock dagger and the dudgeon dagger, almost always have smooth round or octagonal section grips with little or no detail carving evident.
Spiral fluting was common on many styles of daggers, but in all truth, intricately carved wooden grips do not seem to be very common, besides dirks. Other grip materials besides wood, such as bone, horn, latten (brass), or even iron seem to have been more common for decorating, generally speaking, but one thing I have learned is that with the study of historical weapons, generalities are only useful in very limited context. My advice would be to check out a site such as MyArmoury, where you can see individual examples of original pieces. Find one you like and try to be as faithful to the design as you can. It is all too easy to end up with an historical mishmash even when you intend otherwise.
 
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You might look into the so-called "Burgundian" rondel daggers of the late 15th century, these are another fairly isolated style that often featured detail-carved wooden grips. Examples of these are not easy to find, I believe I have seen 3 originals. If you have any interest in this style you can PM me, I might be able to dig up a photo or 2.
 
On the Fogg forum I mentioned "Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World" (http://www.amazon.com/Daggers-Fighting-Knives-Western-World/dp/0486417433) and Justin's notes above reminded me I've got another good reference piece on my bookshelf - a little saddle-stapled tract called "The Scottish Dirk" (http://www.amazon.com/Scottish-Dirk-Historical-Arms-No/dp/0919316263)
TheScottishDirk.jpg
 
Here's a couple of dirks that I made to wear at the Scottish games. The wood handle is the 1100 to 1200 style day wear & the stag is for evening dress during the 1500s. The Scots being a very frugal lot & not letting anything go to waste made many dirks from broken sword blades. I also made the sgian dubhs (black knife in Gaelic). Hope this helps ya a wee bit. BTW that book that Michael recomended is excellent. Loaded with photos of old sgian dubhs & dirks
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