Push Dagger

[Harry Mathews]

This is a push dagger that Charlie and I just finished last week. It will be heading to its new owner shortly. The slow rust blued handle is made from a piece of 1/2" 1030 steel. The blade is 4" long and 1 1/2" wide and made from 3/8" 1095. No CNC machining here! Just a drill press, and grinder, but mostly hand files. Loren would really appreciate the pile of steel dust on the floor under my bench. It is flat ground and differentially heat treated. The dagger can be taken down.

Charlie and I usually work on custom order knives individually, but on this one, I made the handle while Charlie made the blade. This created quite a few challenges during the construction as the finished blade had to be timed to fit the finished handle and we did not want to use spacers to get that done.

The design is one that Charlie and I came up with after inspecting and handling every push dagger we could for two years. We wanted to make a dagger that would fit in the time period of the late 19th century and early 20th century. We also wanted the dagger to feel good in the hand with good control over the blade. We got our inspiration for the handle from a set of steel knucks I have in my collection and a couple of period push daggers we liked.

We asked Jim Small to add some embellishment to the handle that would be fitting to the period and to the dagger. We told him that the handle would be rust blued and left the rest to him. We could not be happier with his work.

[maxmadco]

How can it be taken down?

[Harry Mathews]

The blade unscrews, but it is tight. Kind of like a rifle barrel screwed into its action; the blade snugs up to the handle and then just stops. The tricky part was getting it to tighten up and stop with the blade orientation exactly right. Jim Small's signature is on the flat between the blade and the handle. That will be a surprise for someone one day.

[Don Adams]

Harry and Charlie, That's really impressive work. Don

[TexasJack]

Great job by Harry, Charlie, and Jim - though, honestly, we would have expected nothing less.

[jeffbuzzz]

looks great yall ,awsome work

[Robert Washburn]

I think the new owner will be pleased with it. Robert

[trav]

Looks like your research paid off.Beautiful work. Travis