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SkyfireDragon — Bodice Dagger-Maple and button
Published: 2014-03-13 05:13:50 +0000 UTC; Views: 768; Favourites: 22; Downloads: 0
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Description
A quick project that still needs a sheath/scabbard before it is completed. The blade is ground out of a piece of saw-blade steel. The handle was turned and shaped from a piece of Maple with a metal button set in the end.
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Comments: 8
My wife says she would like on of these but she doesn't wear corsets. Personally I'd be more interested in what or upon whom she might intend to use it.
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My wife gets some of my prototype knives, and many as gifts over the years. She favors the wicked looking ones like the flame shaped blades. I also have been making and rehabbing jewelery smithing tools for her.
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It sounds as if the term Bodice Dagger has in interesting history. Was it for use by women?
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Yes they were used by woman. Years ago bodice's and corset's had whale bone stiffeners stitched into them. The front piece of whale bone, at the sternum, was sometimes replaced with a pocket or integral sheath to hold a guard-less dagger or bodkin. In essence, a concealed weapon that could be drawn from between the breasts. Due to the way it was drawn, only the tip is sharp, not the edges. I would sell bodice daggers at SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms) events if I were still a member. When they wanted a business license and tax number I had to stop going (that and my last 8 years with the Navy I was on sea duty). I am in essence a one-man operation, and did not make enough on my knives to justify paying for a business license. Now a days I sell through word of mouth, but I am looking into an e-store because of the two commissions I have already had through DA. Most of the knives I have made over the last year have been gifts and/or me trying to prefect my skills.
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Thank you so much for the detail.
When you eere in the navy did the skills you used the help you now in your metal and knife making skills?
do you cast the knives?
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In the Navy I worked in avionics (aircraft electronics). I learned some skill sets and I used some skill sets while I was in the Navy. Aircraft are made mostly out of aluminum, not a metal used in knife making except for fittings. I did have a lot of time to study and research while I was on ship (where they frown on you making sharp pointy things).
As to casting a blade, It works for copper and bronze. After they are cast the edge is work hardened with a hammer to make it hold an edge. Cast iron is to brittle and would shatter with a strong blow.
The way I make knives is through a process called stock removal. I grind and file away material to come up with a final shape. I do some forging (heating and pounding into shape), but I don't have a full set up. I heat up sections with a torch and hammer them into shape. I really need to make or buy a forge so I can heat larger pieces!
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Thanks for the interesting answer.
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