My 8 Bar French Dagger

Joined
Dec 2, 1999
Messages
9,910
BladeGallery has another one one my daggers up. I thought my Buddies on Shop Talk would like to take a look. Look at BladeGallery.com and click on Makers.
 
Lets see if I can get the picture up for you Bruce:
knife615.jpg


Man you are killing me here Bruce.....I Have got to get busy and try doing something awesome and see if I can even come close to this...
I did get a 42 inch bar of low layer Damascus that is 3/16 inch thick by 1 1/4 inches wide done today before I got to hot and had to stop,about made myself sick.I guess I need to forg at night for awhile during the rest of the summer as it is getting unseasonably Hot out at the present.I am going to cut that bar in 7 pieces and weld all that together and then then fold it a couple of times and see what kind of random pattern I come up with.
I also tried some tree cutter chai today.It looks like giant chainsaw chain ( Oregon brand ) I got the first welds on it and I am curious about it.
Time to go SWIMMING and get cooled off so I can finish forging my Damascus so I can make something really cool to show myself.
Bruce
 
Oh yea HOW did you do that GUARD ????????
I have always wondered how those were done,Maybe I can do something like it on a piece one of these days.
Bruce
 
Why is it that you guys just keep making the ladder higher and putting the rungs farther apart?
Fantastic knife Bruce!!!
Any chance of getting a close up of the blade to see the paturn better?
 
Bruce that's just beautiful.....I'm going to give up and just buy knives from Bruce & Bruce. The guard is very nice, I'd like to know how you did it.
 
DON'T GIVE UP PETER :eek: :eek:
Just use the philosophy that Alex Daniels keeps telling me "JUST DO IT "
If you keep trying you will get where you want to be,That is the fun of making knives.....
Didn't mean to sound like I was crying earlier but I did over do it,and boy you would be suprised how nice a 3 foot deep kids pool feels when you get that hot.
Bruce
 
Thanks Guys, The guard is turned on a metal lathe as is the pommel. That college machine class I take at night really helps.

Bruce E, Thanks much for posting the pic from BladeGallery.

R Dockrell, Go to BladeGallery.com and click on "other views of this knife" It has a closer look at the blade and such.
 
Great Looking Knife Bruce! Very Fancy fittings. Could you tell us more about the handle materials and construction?
 
That is one beautiful dagger, Bruce! Wonderful style, workmanship.

I can't tell by looking at this picture, but am curious to know if the handle is scored/fluted to keep the wire wrap in place? I've seen tightly wrapped wire before, and seen wire in relatively wide spaced flutes. Haven't seen a wind like yours. I really like it. Just wondering what was done to keep it in place.

Thanks. Keep 'em coming!
 
Outstanding knife, Bruce! I'd like to have one of those hanging on my wall some day . . .

Tom, LMAO! Took me about 15 seconds to get it :D
 
I'm just kidding Bruce. Bugs, it looks like the wrap I have on a few civil war officers swords. They are wrapped in a spiral groove cut in the wood. I talked to one of the smiths at Williamsburg once to see how they did it. They take a strip of paper the width of the flute they want and wrap the handle. He used a rasp that looked like a single checkering tool, and cut around the edges of the paper and voila...perfect spacing....I'm rambling...sorry.
 
The handle was the easy part, I took 3 cords, (construction string) dipped them in elmers glue and wrapped tight and flat around the wood core starting at one end and finishing at the other end. Before the glue has a chance to dry I unwound one of the strings which leaves an evenly spaced groove for the twisted wire to lay in. Let the glue dry and slide the eel skin sleeve on. Make sure it is loose enough to be tightened with the wire wrap. It took me 2 trys but really is easy and simpler than cutting the grooves in. The eel skin is from a ladies purse.
 
WOW Bruce, that's sweet! I may just get fired up here and get some work done soon with inspiration like that!

Guy Thomas
 
That's a great knife! My attempt at a dagger resulted in a letter opener. (It get's more use than the dagger would have.) ;)

-chris
 
eel skin, I was getting excited cause I have some silver wire and an ebony block big enough. an it's eel skin:rolleyes:

absolutly wonderful knife
 
Amazing! There is no other word to better describe that dagger!
Now, do people who produce such great knives need to be called Bruce or is it an honorific title instead of a name?
 
<font face=arial black color=midnightblue size=3><b> A lesson to all: aside from fit and finish, here's an example of what makes a truely great knife. The balance of artistic design, complimenting colors and textures, which form an artistic element equal to that of the bladesmithing craft. Bruce I am impressed: it has the look my friend.

regards, mitch

Here's another shot of Bruce's knife...



and, here's a little something I have to tell customers a lot of the time it seems...<font color=crimson size=4>
"All art contains an element of craft; but not all craft is art"
<p><img src=http://www.main.com/~wilkins/knife/forums/bumpdagger01.jpg>
 
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