Old short sword?

[Interested Party]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

Hey Mark. It is a possibility, but without provenance or markings, it would be too hard to call. I used to have an old tobacco knife (also called corn cutting knives, etc) with a Civil War era cut-down blade with faded Ames marking on it. Some of these were also made from plow shares-

Plow shards, scythes, crosscut saws, anything handy. Some took a good edge some didn't. When I was a kid/young man I would see them at the flee markets for a few dollars, I guess $4-30 in today's currency. I wish I could go back and see if any were cut down swords. Besides the temper/composition differences some were good shapes and cut really well, others were amazing duds. I owned a ton they were so cheap they were almost disposable. I got to learn a lot about cutting steel, design, and edge geometry from those knives. There was always something overgrown that my family was happy to have me clear.

In memory i remember fullered ones like the example, like I said I wish I could go back and inspect them with what I know now

The ferule and peen on the original post are nice touches and slightly usual, especially the peen. I think this thread ties in nicely with the Revolutionay War side knife thread from last week and I am adding a link http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=30738 as I believe they complete an idea and show the development of a form. As I have written about before there were almost no swords in western NC. There should have been many. I think that most were repurposed and ground to nothing in their second working life.

Thanks guys!
-IP