Bob (and others), I have a sincere question. Why does that dagger represent the pinnacle of the craft? I am not knowledgeable at all about them, so I am wondering why it is so highly regarded.
That question comes from wanting to know why it is, but not doubting at all that it is, in fact, remarkable among remarkable knives. Can you point out some of the things that would escape most folks (like me)?
Thank you.
You're an engineer right? I have an answer tailored to you.
That is a real dagger built as a real and proper weapon. It is also built without regard to manufacturability, meaning it was a difficult piece with a lot of hours in it.
Without sitting down with someone in person it is difficult to explain some of these concepts. The grind is twisted in a shallow helix. In order to picture this, think of it as the grind angle being steep at the plunge, going flatter along the length of the dagger then going steep again as it approaches the tip. What this does is control the distal taper along the length of the blade rather then just letting it be dictated by the intersection of a constant angle grind as it runs along the length of the blade. Otherwise the tip would be the result of the intersection of two deep hollow grinds and would be very thin and weak behind the point, and there would be a weak spot at the plunge.
It is American made Latrobe A2 steel with an optimized heat treat. You can't
see those things, but they are there and are important.
It is perfectly balanced at the intersection of the guard and the ricasso which didn't just happen by itself on such a long stout light dagger, it took some real effort.
The meat behind the point and at the weighted pommel increase the moment of inertia which is what you want for a thrusting weapon and a main gauche intended to resist deflection.
The handle feels odd when held in a normal knife "hammer" grip; it wasn't intended to be held that way. It is designed to be held across the palm at an angle (pommel at the wrist) with both the index finger and thumb behind the guard and used as a stab and thrust weapon extending out the length of the arm to project reach. It has been carefully designed so that when held this way the blade extends naturally along the length of the arm rather than jut off at a weird angle. It is also intended to be held turned 90 degrees in the hand with the thumb on the ricasso. These are strange hand grips for most folks, but this is a real dagger and is designed to be used as such.
The crossed full tangs is very unusual, but is much stiffer and stronger than a single full tang, which allows less material to do more work. The twisted deep hollow grind allows the removal of unneeded material behind the edge in the middle of the blade which reduces unnecessary blade weight and adds a cut section on an otherwise thrust blade. These considerations to geometry end with a surprising light weapon for such a large and stout dagger.
None of the geometry is easy to make. It is not something most folks could sit at a grinder, forge or mill and make at this level. In my humble opinion it represents near the limit of the state of the art of what can be done in a bladed weapon of its sort. The cost, to me, was many many hours of design, programming, ergonomic prototypes, spindle hours and (because none of it can be directly milled, only surface milled) hours and hours of hand stoning. There are details such as the aforementioned X tang, radii and extra meat in stressed locations, and a total of 32 hidden blind threaded holes in the scales to allow assembly with acraglas and threaded hidden pins that make it not just well engineered and well designed but also well built and made to withstand real hard use as a real dagger. So, what makes this one of my best efforts, to me, isn't that it is symmetric and has good fit and finish, but that it is a no-compromise piece of work that represents the best that I am capable of. And, I think what makes this piece special isn't that it is an art knife, but specifically because it
isn't an art knife, it is a
real knife, and well crafted examples of a real modern dagger that has been carefully and thoroughly designed and executed are actually pretty uncommon.
These are crazy time consuming to make, so there are very few of them.
edit to add:
10" blade, 15.3" total length, 2.5" wide across the guard
12.7 oz
Latrobe A2, HRC 59-60
Westinghouse Micarta
. Joking of course. It's for her to have something nice but also something I've been wanting so it's a gift for both of us basically. If she hurts it'll she will be demoted to using just the Food Network santoku I have.
