Large Daggers : Thoughts

Mark Williams

Mark Williams

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I'm presently working on a what I consider a large dagger. 12" blade.

Why do we not see more large or small double edged blades in the custom market ?

Do most makers just do the one required for MS and never do another ?

Just curious.

So far I'm pretty excited about it.....so far. :)
 
Ive done several of them and enjoyed each one. They arent very useful though and in some states they need to stay out of sight of the law.
 
I think Don Hansons MS dagger had a 12" blade, and looked very good. :D
 
Yeah, I made one :)

I like big daggers and will most likely make a couple more.

Make sure you post a good photo Mark. :thumbup:
 
Mark Williams said:
I'm presently working on a what I consider a large dagger. 12" blade.

Why do we not see more large or small double edged blades in the custom market ?

Do most makers just do the one required for MS and never do another ?

Just curious.

So far I'm pretty excited about it.....so far. :)
Click to expand...

1. They are real hard to grind, right?:D

2. You generally have to ORDER a dagger, but there are quite a few makers that can do a nice one, for guys like me, I don't post many pictures, unless the maker does a pic, the piece is gone from public view for about 30 years or so. I probably have about 15, out of 100.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
I don't find thin traditional daggers very useful, but I do have a pretty wide dagger by Bill Siegel that I find very useful for many, many chores.
I also have a thing for long toothpick style knives, but that's just the mall ninja in me coming out. :D
 
I'm cracking up about the 'usefulness' thing. Fighters are useful, too. :eek: So are bowies, I'm guessing.... ;)

I love the symmetry of a good dagger, and the complexity of the grinds adds to the intrigue.

Look over and up to the left. :D

Coop
 
They sure appeal to me, on a basic level I guess. The "beautiful but deadly" dynamic. I like having them made to order. 12" blades are really out of the norm for most of the makers I know so I think they enjoy making them once in awhile.. Coop could carpet bomb this thread with photo's of large art daggers...
 
Daggers have a limited fan base, and are difficult to make well. They don't tend to be a style that makers produce unless they have an order for one. This is not the case with all makers, but it is with quite a few.
 
Thanks for the input guys.

Feel free to post some pics of large daggers if you wish. I would love to see pics.

I'll post a pic when I'm done.
 
There are many great looking daggers in David Darom's books on "Fixed Blade Knives" and "The Great Collections".

Amongst my favorites were made by the late and GREAT Buster Warenski.

Coop...I can appreciate the humor in the statement that daggers aren't very useful. I'm sure everybody uses their Loveless (and other top makers) knives regularly!

Peter
 
I collect them since I always have a need to use 'em. You never know when you might need to dag someone. :D.

Actually, even though I do not make knives, I consider daggers and multiblades some of the most difficult styles of knives to do right.

I really need to send a gaggle of some of the ones I have to Coop so justice can be done to them.

As a total aside:
Mark, if you are looking for a customer that would be interested, look no more. ;).
 
Bastid said:
I really need to send a gaggle of some of the ones I have to Coop so justice can be done to them.
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Amen to that!

While I don't collect them myself, I definitely admire the better ones that I have seen and appreciate the skill required to do them well.

Roger
 
I really like daggers, especially the more fancy ones. Here are a couple of them that I have in my collection.

Rigney Ring dagger

picture.JPG


Another Rigney (great picture by Coop) with Skaggs engraving

picture.JPG



Two Harvey's, first a Cinquedea and last a medieval small dagger

picture.JPG


picture.JPG


A David Brodziak dagger with painted scabbard by Carol Ann O'Connor

picture.JPG


And finally a Fred Carter

picture.JPG


Now that I look at them I realize that a couple of them deserve a better photo. Coop any chance you are coming to Europe any time soon?:);)

In the upcoming year there will be new additions (daggers of course) from Michael Rader, Mark Banfield, Brodziak/McIntyre, Rick Eaton and hopefully Arpad Bojtos.

I've shown you mine now show me yours:D

Marcel
 
Wow !

I dont know if I'll be showing mine now or not.:o

The work Marcel has posted is just beautiful. I cant imagine having the patience to do some of the details on those.

Thanks for posting.

More....

p.s Bastid.. Thanks Brother.
 
Uh huh. :rolleyes:

Just to show a little of Mark's creativity and detail :D for those who missed this example.

attachment.php
 
I dont know if I'll be showing mine now or not.
Click to expand...

Mark, please I'm sure your work will stand up to any of those. If I look at knives like "Ceremony" there is more than ample proof of that.:thumbup:

Marcel
 
I have a couple:

By Don Fogg:
Fogg_Dagger.jpg


(following pic courtesy of Nordic Knives)
FoggPWDagger1.jpg


By Burt Foster:
FosterDagger14.jpg
 
It's not real big as far as some double edge daggers go, but it is the biggest one I have made so far. This one has a 7.5" blade. If a dagger gets much bigger than this, the local law gets kind of uppity about someone carring it to the movies.:D

151819196.jpg


Now this is one that is evidently useful, or some people that work for a board of education in a large metropolitan area thought so, anyway. There are a lot more people looking for this type of dagger than a high end one. They don't take as much time to make either, but if that grind isn't perfect, it is just as obvious on a low end dagger as it is on a high end one.

230451081.jpg
 
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