New Knife

[jaxenro]

I would state I assembled this more then made it as the blade and guard came from Track and handle is modern made silver plate I stripped and "aged" slightly. Anyway I was trying to recreate the look of an 1850's - 1890's "cutlery" handled dirk for an inexpensive price I wouldn't get too worked up over if I lost it. Altogether with shipping I have under $40 in it and maybe an hour's work

 

[Jaeger]

Nice work! And the price is right!

 

[Birdman]

I kind of like the look of useing an old cutlery handle on that. Did you fill it with anything to add weight to it(the handle). nosey people need to know :haha: how about some spec, ie. length how ya went about it etc. Might help out some other of the newbies with trying to make some of their own stuff. Pretty kool. Now! lets see what ya come up with for a sheath,

 

[jaxenro]

filled the handle with good old JB weld it glued it on and added weight so it is fairly solid. used both tubes completely packed in there

the blade is the 5" carbon steel soligen dagger from track and I bought the handles off of eBay for $8 plus shipping for 3 so I can make 2 more sometime. They are modern made and were really shiney silver I stripped with ferric chloride etchant and then aged with metal "black" i bought in an old hobby shop for model trains

 

[Stophel]

Pretty neat! A good idea you had there!

 

[Birdman]

:thumbsup: thank you good sir, answered every question I had, great idea and nice work atriot:

 

[50cal.cliff]

Nice job. I an not sure you would have gotten a dirk from a kitchen knife but, if it were possible to do it was probably done!

Truth be known there were more knives carried back in the day that were actual kitchen cutlery repurposed for field use. Knives that resemble butcher knives and what most folks would call today a cheif's knife were common. Did some of them come straight out of the kitchen, sure did!
But even companies like Sheffield were making and selling knives that looked a lot like a chief's knife!

Think about most folks didn't have money to go and spend on a new knife, so they brung what they had at home and used it, sharpened it and modified it too best suit their own uses!

 

[Prairieofthedog]

Jaxnenro,nice idea ,looks great.What would we do without JB WEld LOL!

 

[LRB]

Cutlers rezin. But I would use J&B given a choice.

 

[Birdman]

already said I liked it, but would offer a bit of advice, make sure its legal to own and carry where you live, in many states now as well as counties n even down to townships carrying a double edged blade is a no no. Hate to see you get into trouble carrying something that pretty. --just a thought is all, Birdman

 

[jaxenro]

"I an not sure you would have gotten a dirk from a kitchen knife"

They weren't made from kitchen knives but new made as dirks. They are called by collectors today "cutlery" handles but they we just really metal handled dirks

here are a few period examples

 

[50cal.cliff]

Weren't trying to rile your ire. I have never seen a dirk with that type of handle and the first thing that popped into mind was a handle on a kitchen knife or should I say the good silver.

So I have learned something about dirks today. My reply was merely to say that in the day more knives being used were something that was repurposed from a kitchen utensil.

Here is a set of knives that belonged to my wife's Grandfather. He was a rancher here in N. W. Fl. back in the days of open range. He was 2/3 Creek Indian an quite a character from what they say.

All of these are handmade/homemade, butcher knives or at least one was repurposed from hand saws and such.
Now I realize this is not as far back in the day as we are speaking of with the dirk but it goes along with what I was saying about repurposing!

The one the second from the left is one that is said he liked to carry in a sheath, when he rode the open range in search of his hogs!

By the way I do like the Dirk! :thumbsup:

 

[jaxenro]

"Weren't trying to rile your ire"

didn't take it as such just thought you might be unfamilier with this type of dirk or bowie. I used to collect sheffield made dirks from the time period (1850's to maybe early 1900's) so I know about them.

More of an item a well to do town gent would slip into his pocket or boot or a better off civil war soldier. They come up on eBay in the $150 to $400 range now and again a bit much to risk loosing

 

[50cal.cliff]

Well I will put it this way I have tried to learn everything I can about knives of that period. However what I knew of dirks did not cover the one's you have pictured. I don't recall ever seeing a dirk with that type of handle. So I am learning something new.
Sometime we get focused in on what we think we know and then something that has been there all along pops up and we realize we have missed out on that bit of info all along!

 

[jaxenro]

I have studied Sheffield made dirks for 20 years, owned over 200 of them, and there is still a lot I don't know and that is just one small subset of a much larger area. Even at that I used to use Bernard Levine's services to review most of my purchases because dirks are so easy to fake (blade from one and handle from another type of knife). There is so much to learn and the amount of knowledge on this forum is astounding that I usualyl come here just to absorb it all

 

[yelnif]

You did a fine job "assembling" your dirk. Someone at sometime 'assembled' the originals and other than the JB you look very PC/HC. I have a few old silver handles I picked up somewhere- and they all have some kind of off white/ lt.gray 'chaulky' stuff inside them. Kind of like plaster of paris or something?
In your examples of originals- the sheath for the double edge appears to be made from 4 pieces of leather sewn and or stretched over a metal?? frame. Is this the way it was made? How did they sew it 4 time's in such a confined cylinder shape?

 

[LaBonte]

The gray chalky stuff is most likely one mix of cutler's rezin - generally a mix of pine rezin, beeswax, and some kind of filler - brick dust, steel filings, etc.
The sheaths have a center back seam - the lines you are looking at are decorative with gold filigree - it's a book binding type of deco used extensively on sheaths of the 1900's, especially those from Sheffield. Sheaths of that period usually had liners made of waxed paste board and covered with a very thin leather. Some had metal liners, but not as many as had paste board liners.

 

[MSW]

I like it!

 

[yelnif]

Thanks LaBonte, Do you know of anyway to figure how old a handle might be, something to look for?
Interesting about the use of 'waxed paste board'- I figured they would have a rawhide or wood liner. I've always associated a metal liner being used with swords.
And again jaxenro- fine looking dirk, did you ever get a sheath made for it?

 

[LaBonte]

It would depend on the handle material - wooden handles on either half or full tangs used 2-6 iron pins up to the 1880's or so as well as cutler's rezin.

Metal handles would be much tougher to date although the cutlery style handles are (generally?) a post 1830's era IIRC.