Quote:
Originally Posted by pbleed
I think we are trying too hard. Certainly, it COULD be from lots of places, but IF I had only one choice, I'd bet its 1940s(mebbe30s) American machine shop craft. It remind me of some of the high end WWII stuff done by aircraft maintenance guys, but this is WAY over the top.
PBleed
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This is fascinating. I have never heard of such a thing.
I have the knife in front of me now. Arguing against your machine-shop thesis is the mis-alignment of the dots on the middle red stack alone, and all the dots in a line from pommel to guard. These are clearly eyeballed, not precision drilled.
The layers are also not squared. The hilt has smooth, curved transitions between adjacent layers to achieve the overall shape.
I notice now the inlaid red and black dots are some type of crystalline stone. Might be glass, but doesnt look that translucent under light. The
The pommel does resemble a lug nut somewhat. That argues for recency. The number and arrangement of facets on the pommel, however, does not look like any lug nut Ive seen. The are redundant and impractical. Looking at it carefully right now, I might be persuaded it is a modified lug nut, with the distal facets added, by hand or machine grinding, for decorative effect.
The blade is inconsistent with the machine shop origin idea. I wager a skilled smith made the blade. The steel is pattern welded. The diamond cross section tapers distally from forte to tip. It is very well made.
This knife was also used, not for show. There are easily observed wear patterns on the hilt where a thumb would be placed. It also feels better in this grip. That takes a fair amount of handling to achieve. Although the blade is sharpened (very sharp) on all sides, it appears that it was re-sharpened over time in a chisel grind oriented towards right hand cutting. The tip is slightly bent and has other signs of wear as well as repair.
It is possible the blade is from a sword, but the wear and age of hilt and blade seem contemporary to each other. It also just feels right in the hand and the balance is perfect. I think it is of one piece.
I love a mystery. 😁
Dave A