Matthew Gregory
Chief Executive in charge of Entertainment
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2005
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I was granted the rare opportunity to photograph one of my friend
Nathan the Machinist
‘s integral daggers. At the risk of plagiarizing, I’ll cut and paste an explanation that he provided for a previous iteration, some ten years ago:
This is a large integral dagger that started out as a 10 1/2 pound block of Latrobe A2 that was milled down to about 12 ounces. The blade is 10". The overall length is 15.3". It's a little over 1/4" thick at the ricasso. It has deep 3" hollow grinds.
The distal taper was controlled by twisting the grind back and forth in a shallow helix. This helped me control the distribution of mass and leave some extra meat at the base of the blade and behind the tip without being an overly heavy blade. This is not a new technique, but is less commonly seen today.
It balances at the ricasso/guard transition.
The grip is designed to be held at an angle in the hand with the pommel at the wrist to project reach.
This is made of domestically produced materials and heat treated to HRC 59-60. The scales are fully bonded with Acraglas and there is a total of 16 threaded hidden pins going into a total of 32 blind threaded holes in the Micarta scales. The blade, guard, tangs and pommel are all milled of a single piece, there are no joints. If you hold it at the guard and give it a little thump the entire dagger rings. It's a very solid weapon.
The machined dagger was fully hand stoned to a fine finish before receiving a dark tumble for a non-directional satin finish that has been lightly polished that almost looks chatoyant.
10" blade, 15.3" total length, 2.5" wide across the guard
12.7 oz
Latrobe A2, HRC 59-60
This example has dyed and stabilized buckeye burl for the handle inlays.
Over the course of many years, I’ve had the luxury to have held and examined many daggers, some made by master smiths that have dedicated their lives to the study of daggers. Quite a few of them were more ornate, or featured more ‘exotic’ materials, but nearly all of them don’t manage to achieve the poise, balance, flow, form and function of this one. As beautiful as it is, and it’s more so in-hand than my photo can ever capture, it feels like the tool intended for its purpose.
It’s been said that the hardest task is to achieve the goal with as little as humanly possible, as it’s easier to be distracted by the application of too many details. This dagger stands as a perfect example of that concept, achieved. Easily one of the best examples of form and function working effortlessly together, with nothing else to detract.
I don’t know how many of these he’s made, except to know it’s too few. I know that the greatest reason for this, however, is that the machining and setup is absurdly time consuming, eating up an outrageous amount of processing cycles and monopolizing machines that would otherwise be making profitable products. The only reason to make one of these tour de force daggers is to show that he can, and because of the drive and passion to do so. It’s a very different way of making something, compared to my own ways, but it’s still one I admire and respect in a result like this.
Nathan the Machinist
‘s integral daggers. At the risk of plagiarizing, I’ll cut and paste an explanation that he provided for a previous iteration, some ten years ago:This is a large integral dagger that started out as a 10 1/2 pound block of Latrobe A2 that was milled down to about 12 ounces. The blade is 10". The overall length is 15.3". It's a little over 1/4" thick at the ricasso. It has deep 3" hollow grinds.
The distal taper was controlled by twisting the grind back and forth in a shallow helix. This helped me control the distribution of mass and leave some extra meat at the base of the blade and behind the tip without being an overly heavy blade. This is not a new technique, but is less commonly seen today.
It balances at the ricasso/guard transition.
The grip is designed to be held at an angle in the hand with the pommel at the wrist to project reach.
This is made of domestically produced materials and heat treated to HRC 59-60. The scales are fully bonded with Acraglas and there is a total of 16 threaded hidden pins going into a total of 32 blind threaded holes in the Micarta scales. The blade, guard, tangs and pommel are all milled of a single piece, there are no joints. If you hold it at the guard and give it a little thump the entire dagger rings. It's a very solid weapon.
The machined dagger was fully hand stoned to a fine finish before receiving a dark tumble for a non-directional satin finish that has been lightly polished that almost looks chatoyant.
10" blade, 15.3" total length, 2.5" wide across the guard
12.7 oz
Latrobe A2, HRC 59-60
This example has dyed and stabilized buckeye burl for the handle inlays.
Over the course of many years, I’ve had the luxury to have held and examined many daggers, some made by master smiths that have dedicated their lives to the study of daggers. Quite a few of them were more ornate, or featured more ‘exotic’ materials, but nearly all of them don’t manage to achieve the poise, balance, flow, form and function of this one. As beautiful as it is, and it’s more so in-hand than my photo can ever capture, it feels like the tool intended for its purpose.
It’s been said that the hardest task is to achieve the goal with as little as humanly possible, as it’s easier to be distracted by the application of too many details. This dagger stands as a perfect example of that concept, achieved. Easily one of the best examples of form and function working effortlessly together, with nothing else to detract.
I don’t know how many of these he’s made, except to know it’s too few. I know that the greatest reason for this, however, is that the machining and setup is absurdly time consuming, eating up an outrageous amount of processing cycles and monopolizing machines that would otherwise be making profitable products. The only reason to make one of these tour de force daggers is to show that he can, and because of the drive and passion to do so. It’s a very different way of making something, compared to my own ways, but it’s still one I admire and respect in a result like this.
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