Ideas for the ideal, balanced ratio ornamental to pratical, dagger?

Joined
Jan 29, 2016
Messages
1
Hello,

This is my first time on these forums, I have little experience with blades and come from a bit of science and was led here by curiosity and a quest for answers. So I was thinking of different materials, alloys, super-alloys, creation processes even if somewhat unknown or theoretical like how Damascus steel was created. With these I wanted to think of a quite good blade for a dagger, I will list some criteria that I would like to further explore for a blade idea. And my question is what materials, and crafting method is good for a dagger used for combat but also somewhat ornamental?

Points to consider
- Price is irrelevant
- Creation difficulty / possibility is irrelevant
- Does not have to be extremely practical for combat
- Should be somewhat ornamental but not solely
- Preferably made out of an alloy of Titanium (especially), Tungsten (maybe) or alike (e.g.: Titanium aluminide, Tungsten carbide)
- May involve theoretical or somewhat fictional material properties / process of creation with scientific basis like Damascus steel.

Note: I do realize Titanium isn't very practical but it doesn't have to be and some alloys are practical. The blade is supposed to be somewhat ornamental and should not solely focus on combat like Titanium is extremely resistant to corrosion and whilst Titanium is light, this is a dagger where I do not want to get stuck on the problem of the element being too lightweight as cutting is one of the most important aspects.

I do not know much about crafting blades but I've heard and so you could definitely consider having different materials in different parts of the blades, where you have a soft core like I have heard Japanese / Chinese swords had , or diamond-edged (probably a bad idea). Thank you very much.

Kind Regards,
Kreative
 
There are a few threads on here showing some great titanium pieces. Practical and useable.
 
Beta titanium alloys, which can be heat-treated to make a really stiff, tough and sharp blade, would make a great dagger. It cuts well too, but a dagger won't be doing much cutting. Might as well make the guard timascus, or perhaps a copper-tungsten alloy with matching pommel. 14" diamond or triangular-section differentially-hardened blade with a 5" hilt! :D
 
So you want to come up with an academically high-tech, handsome enough to play a role as a dress dagger, and perfect for combat from a construction and basic design standpoint without being a scifi-fantasy clown object?

I want to see what you come up with, but I agree that just browsing the subforum for a few hours might give you a good head start on this thread.
 
Back
Top