WWI bayonet blades for dirk?

Rusty

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Mar 8, 1999
Messages
8,911
Some time ago I paid $25 apiece for two apparent WW1 era bayonets, with the idea of using the blades ( polished up and sharpened but not reground or tempered ) and rehandled to make the ultimate bedside dirk. Well, maybe rehandle it in the Scottish dirk style. One is a 17" Wilkinson blade, the other a 15 1/2" blade w/o maker's mark other than a k within a five pointed star on the left, and an inverted 8 ( large circle above small cirle ) inside another circle.

I alteady posted even more details on the Collector's Corner forum, just to make sure I don't trash a piece of history, or even worse, something I could sell for a nice profit. Before you tell me the odds on hitting the jackpot - I made slot machines to put myself thru college.

Anyway, for the purpose, toughness is more important than *holding* a razor edge for more than a few minutes. So are these two blades likely to be good for the intended use? Were the hilts silver soldered on? Enough tang left to fit solidly after removing blade, hilt, pommel?

Does anyone do a nice job on scottish dirk handles who'd take on such a proposition? The link to the Collector's Corner is below.

http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000367.html

Thank you all for any info. Rusty

------------------
Himalayan Imports Website

Himalayan Imports Khukuri FAQ
 
I think you'll find that you'd be better off keeping the bayonets as conversation pieces and having the knives made from scratch. It's much harder to adapt those blades to something they aren't than it is to start with a fresh piece of steel. Scotia Metalworks in NC makes wonderful Scottish edged weapons.

------------------
Jerry Hossom
knifemaker
www.hossom.com


 
Thanks, your comments make sense, and are valued.

LOL, I get two comments back so far:

one refers me to a book showing lustrums, decades, and centuries of precedence for cutting down probably broken bayonets because that's what they had;

the other says save yourself a lot of grief and start fresh.

Both have to be absolutely right. Maybe I'll go play with swords or 'hawks instead. Rusty

------------------
Himalayan Imports Website

Himalayan Imports Khukuri FAQ
 
Grinding dirks from older knives is appropriate since many of the 17th century dirks were made from broken swords imported from tne continent. This was made necessary because of the English ban on the Scots making weapons. Importation of scrap metal seemed relatively inocuous at the time.



------------------
george
www.tichbourneknives.com
sales@tichbourneknives.com


 
Rusty. I think using a bayonet to make a Scots type dagger is a great idea. The blades have similar lines while the bayonet might be a tad slimmer and if you have the scabbards you have a great sheath in the making. As long as the tang is compatable I can't foresee any problems. Get yourself some ebony and nickel silver bar stock and go for it, it will be a fun project.

Jake
 
Back
Top