http://sjaqua.tripod.com/19.jpg

This one is going to be the center piece of my display at the mini knife show tomorrow. It's a 16th Century Left Hand, Single Offside Ring Dagger. The Blade is 10 1/2" x 1" welded cable. The ring hilt was made from a single piece of welded cable. The "scent stopper" pommel nut was turned from a piece of welded cable that was left in the round. The handle is made from a piece of holly. The whole point of this knife was to be a test bed for this type of hilt.

Nice work Scott!

I loke the details in the hilt, the twists especially. When you have time I'd like to hear some more about this dagger.

Is that the colour you get from a piece of holly without any treatment? I can see I'll have to try some....

Roger

Holly is very white. It is also a very fine grained wood. It turns well and sands very smooth. The big thing here is to keep it from staining while working it. While a tight grain prevents slight stains from penetrating, I still needed latex gloves while doing all the finish work. Almost any wood finish is going to add a amber cast, but you really need to seal this stuff. I used a wood turners rubbed on finish. It sealed the wood with as little color change as possible.

nice knife, scott. and thanx for the tip re: holly. i have always avoided it because it stains so readily, but may have to try your method.

Scott.
Thats a great looking dagger......actualy, its superb...great use of materials.

Kevin:)

Roger, Wayne, Kevin,

Thank you. I had a lot of fun with this knife. Even if It did take two trys to get the hilt the way I wanted it. Between a mini knife show held by the local collectors club and a major SCA War (GWW) it got looked at a lot this last week. The most fun came from telling people how I made the hilt and watching them try to find where I welded the ring close.