Any ideas as to the origin of this guardless dagger?

[katana]

Hi, just 'won' this dagger, looked interesting and was cheap :)

THIS DAGGER MEASURES 32 CMS. (12 1/2 IN.) IN LENGTH.

THE BLADE MEASURES 22 CMS. (8 3/4 IN) IN LENGTH.

The seller describes the hilt as......

"The handle is made from 4. bands of dark, hard material with copper banding in between and 1. red band. We can't be accurate on the type of material. "

Any ideas or comments gratefully received

Regards David

[Mark]

No idea. Do you have it in hand yet? It actually looks like a letter-opener to me, but I hope I'm wrong. :o

[katana]

No idea. It actually looks like a letter-opener to me, but I hope I'm wrong. :o

You and Spiral both :)
Well it arrived, blade is tempered steel, not edged but very sharply pointed...so not a letter opener.....however, the balance point is exactly at the point the handle ends/ 'blade' starts. The feel suggested to me that it may be a 'thrower'...seeing as it was very cheap...I took it into the garden and throw it ....not away ;) ....at a wooden board.

Bearing in mind, I am no 'knife-thrower' out of 10 attempts the 'knife' stuck perfectly 9 times.
Certainly not a well made knife...has some age..possibly WW2 era :confused: ......but definately functional.

[Andrew]

I think I see the remains of hatching in the bottom picture. Any chance this was made from a file?

How is the blade attached to the handle?

[Tim Simmons]

There is an almost identical one but with a guard on offer on a well known internet auction site. The stacked handle brings to mind the Mediterranean. North Africa to Somalia. The stilleto is not unknown there abouts.

[katana]

Hi Andrew,

It is very difficult to determine whether the areas that have this pattern of discolouration (which seems to give the cross hatching 'effect') is evidence that this is made from a file.(even when viewed under magnification) The blade 'rings' when tapped and has slight 'flex' which 'springs' back. If a file was used I would imagine that it was annealed and re-tempered with less hardness/brittleness of that of the file.
The blade tapers to a 'shoulder' ...then to a rat tail tang that appears to be peened at the pommel (the metal disc of the pommel has plenty of dings and dents and is impossible to see).
I am assuming that this is some sort of throwing knife..purely because of the balance and ease of use (its certainly been fun :cool: ).
This could just as easily be used as a stabbing weapon.....perhaps covertly carried ...despite its length....it could easily be concealed in clothing as it is so slim.

Hi Tim,
when I first saw this I suspected Morocco, for two reasons, as you pointed out the stacked handle is common to the region.....but also I seem to remember a reference to a long thin pointed stilleto (no sharpened edges) and was guardless....which were concealed in the sleeves........

[Emanuel]

Hi David,
The transition from flat blade to round tang is interesting. Actually it looks a bit like a chisel blade. But you say it's flexible, so I wonder what it could be. Stiletto is just as well...a nice knife...as for throwing, consider moving target practice :) squirrels beware.

Emanuel

[katana]

Hi David,
The transition from flat blade to round tang is interesting. Actually it looks a bit like a chisel blade. But you say it's flexible, so I wonder what it could be. Stiletto is just as well...a nice knife...as for throwing, consider moving target practice :) squirrels beware.

Emanuel

Hi Emanuel,
a chisel could be a good suggestion. When I say flexible the point can be deflected about 1.5" (approx. 3.6cm) up or down...so about 3" of 'movement' overall. Perhaps, like a file, a chisel annealed (softened), and then tempered to a hardness that is less than 'tool' steel ?

[Daniel]

The shape reminds me of both a sharpening steel (ground down flat), or a cabinet maker's burnisher (for turning the edge on cabinet scrapers). Is the cross section flat, or oval?
DD

[katana]

Hi DD,
oval in section.....you might be on to something :)

[Daniel]

I have a couple of burnishers with oval cross section. They don't have pointed ends, but that would be easy to add--for whatever reason. The handle on your's looks bench made to me. The kind of style you see on WWII theatre made knives. It may be that someone converted a tool into a weapon.
DD