Big Franks

[Medicus matt]

Thanks for the explanation. And yep, those are nice blades: good work!

:oops:
Not my work...all of mine have got handles on.


I think the middle one looks a bit 'domestic' like a kitchen knife. I've seen a few roman kitchen/butchers knives with no shoulder between the top of the blade and the tang. Ideal for chopping and I'd give it a suitable chunky wooden handle.

[Robert]

Ah, well, some of mine like the pair at the bottom could well pass as a good old kitchen knife. You can not tell from the pictures, but the top one is forged to have a heavier point. It is great for thrusting and slashing, good fighting knife.
Why I asked about the middle one is mainly because it would have a handle projecting above the line of the bladespine. Most artifacts I have encountered have tangs like the top and bottom one, allowing a fit of the handle as in the knives I have posted. There are a good few knives with tangs straight of the back, like the middle one you posted, but these often have a ring, so I presume these have wooden core handles covered in leather or rawhide as in my Germanic knives post.

[Medicus matt]

There are a good few knives with tangs straight of the back, like the middle one you posted, but these often have a ring, so I presume these have wooden core handles covered in leather or rawhide as in my Germanic knives post.

Depends on the context of the find I guess. A lot of the ones that I've seen with the straight back have come from domestic town sites rather than military contexts. When I've reconstructed them with an ordinary wood or antler handle, they serve very nicely as vegetable chopping knives. The high handle keeps your fingers clear of the chopping board.

[Robert]

Ah, yes, that is a good point. I am going to make a domestic series of knives with antler myself, the coming months. But the weather here is too good for smithing, as I live on the outskirts of a residential area and my neighbours get upset if I fire up the forge and start banging on my anvil when they all want to sit outside (and barbeque!!). Then there is the drought, causing fire hazard, I leave on the edge of the woods.

You wrote you make scabbards. Pity you are half a world away, for that is a craft I still need to master.

[Medicus matt]

Pity you are half a world away

I know that the Channel seems quite big to you Lowlanders but England really isn't THAT far. :wink:

[Robert Vermaat]

I promised to ost some pictures of the Late Roman / Early Merovingian knife made for me by Robert Wimmers.

It's a big beautiful knife from the Donderberg just north of Rhenen (NL) on the Lower Rhine
( http://maps.google.nl/maps?hl=nl&q=dond ... a=N&tab=wl ). The area showed many LR and EM burials, with burial gifts such as LR belts (one of them the widest one ever I think - it's shown in Southern & Dixon), angons, umbo's and lots of glass and other domestic stuff. A political hotspot no doubt, controlling river traffic from the hills.

The knife is 29 cm long, the blade is 16.5 cm, with a yew grip. A beauty!

[Folkert van Wijk]

Congratulations Robert!

Looks very nice indeed I like the wood, always good to have something pretty and authentic to butter your bread with... :wink:

[Folkert van Wijk]

Oh, and have you also been able to watch the birth of this beauty?

[Robert Vermaat]

Oh, and have you also been able to watch the birth of this beauty?

No, but Robert has provided me with ample pictures of the creating process. :wink: