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- Jan 23, 2007
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Many forumites have in recent years been following the work of Nathan Carothers. Here is a new dagger he's just produced, the exceptional quality of which speaks for itself through the images below. Luck and light were with me, so image colors are true. In addition, here are some comments from Nathan:
"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 scales are made of vintage Westinghouse Micarta.
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
Westinghouse Micarta"
An absolutely PERFECT dagger, Nathan. And I know my daggers. Thanks!
"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 scales are made of vintage Westinghouse Micarta.
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
Westinghouse Micarta"
An absolutely PERFECT dagger, Nathan. And I know my daggers. Thanks!
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