Miniature long dagger/sword

tryppyr

tryppyr

Joined
Feb 5, 2010
Messages
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I'm having so much fun making these minis I decided to start another one. I had a couple of pieces of scrap damascus that measured 2.75 inches long, 1/4 inch wide, and 1/8 inch thick. I found a picture of a long dagger that looked more like a sword, and while I didn't particularly like the blade, I liked the handle and the concept. The pictured weapon had an edge on only one side, but I decided to make mine with two edges, so my blade will look nothing like the one pictured.

So far all the work has been done on the grinder using the 50 grit belt. The first step was to remove about half the thickness of the metal above the tang and do some distal tapering. I then cut in the primary bevels. The handle and pommel on this one will almost certainly be made from a single piece of metal... maybe brass... in a design similar to the one pictured in the book.

I don't know what distinguishes a long dagger from a short sword, so I'm not exactly sure what to call this... other than my fourth miniature.

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I think I'm gonna like this one too. If you want I can slice off a chunk of cast bronze and send it to you. I think it would suit the (assumed) time period of the dagger.

I'm just guessing here, no actual knowledge involved, but looks like a "long dagger" is more defined by the handle where a short sword would likely have a different style handle. Any of you historians care to support or dispell this statement?


-Xander
 
Xander, chunk of bronze would be greatly appreciated. I think you're right about it suiting the period better.
 
Cool, I'll get it out to you hopefully tomorrow. Should I just send it to the address you gave me for the KITH?


-Xander
 
Funny that you should post this today.

I have been cleaning up some of Ron Frazier's blades today, and one was a mini damascus sword about 2.5-3" long. I'll post photos of it soon.
 
This morning during the quiet hours I managed to refine the blade a little using needle files toward the back of the bevels, mostly to remove the deeper scratches and even things out a bit. After that I hit it with some 120 grit sandpaper to check the work. As an aside, it's not really important that the "plunges" are uneven, because I'm going to grind the back part of the blade down when making the 3/4 inch tang, and that's pretty much where things are now.

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Just to keep things interesting, I took the other small piece of scrap and started a mono-blade sword shape. This one is even thinner than the other one... has some flex to it, so I need to be MUCH more careful about how I sand it.

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Greg,
Measure the thickness for me and let me know what it is on those. It could be the photo angle, but they look pretty thick.

If the 3" blade is a copy of a 3' sword, then the thickness would be 1/12 that of full size. Assuming 3/8" as a good full size thickness at the ricasso, that makes this mini .03125" thick ( .75mm).
On the same ratio, a 2" wide full size blade will make a .1666" wide blade ( 4mm). That is about right for a wide broad sword, but is pretty fat for a pointed double edge sword, and 1.5" would be more normal, making this mini about .125", or 3mm wide.

So, on a 12:1 scale model of a 36" sword:
3" long ( 75mm)
1/8" wide at the ricasso (3mm)
1/32" thick at the ricasso (.75mm)

If the full size blade is 18" long, then the ratio is 6:1, and the measurements are:
3" long (75mm)
1/4" wide (6mm)
1/16" thick (1.5mm)

Hope this helps.
 
The dagger is definitely thicker than it should be. The other blade seems to be about right, per your measurements.
 
I took a small piece of the bronze Xander sent to me and fitted it to the dagger blade. Still a little more fitting to do. From this I will form the handle.

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Used the grinder and some coarse files to do the preliminary shaping. There's still plenty of material at all points that can be (and will be) removed to get to the final shape using needle files and sandpaper.

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tryppyr said:
Used the grinder and some coarse files to do the preliminary shaping. There's still plenty of material at all points that can be (and will be) removed to get to the final shape using needle files and sandpaper.

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Click to expand...

Very cool Greg. That's bronze will look fantastic finished up. A mini wooden sheeted or this one?
 
Thanks for the encouragement, Judd.

Here's the latest. It still needs some refinement, but you can see the real shapes coming through now.

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Looking good Greg! I'm glad the bronze got to you, the envelope was almost to thick to be sent that way and I had hoped it wouldn't get caught and torn up in the sorting machines. I must say, the bronze does look much better than brass would have, and only will look better with age, kinda like us:D


-Xander
 
Thanks, Xander. I do appreciate the bronze. It's very easy to work. I owe you one.
 
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