My 4th Century Knife

[Medicus matt]

This 4th Century knife that was found with a sword (both on the left side of the body), as well as a crossbow broach with a Chi-Rho, and some glass with a boar hunt scene. The blade is very richly decorated, again supporting in my mind why the sheath should have some decoration....

Ahh, the Bonn 'Steampunk' knife. Lovely piece. A similar knife with decorated blade was found in Winchester but unfortunately it was stolen from the museum and has never been properly published.
But look at the preservation, not just of the metal elements but also the organic parts. If it had been buried in a sheath equipped with a slide fixed with rivets, don't you think that some of it would remain?

Perhaps we're starting with a false assumption, that knives like these were suspended on the person at all? Locations in graves of the majority suggests otherwise.

[Robert Vermaat]

I thought I would post some images of the Late Roman knife that I just finished today.

Very nice Markus!!

[Robert]

Great work on that knife! I really like the attention to detail in the finish of the buttcap and guard. What is the wood of the handle? I would guess ash by the look of it.

[Aryan Steels]

Hi,

It is really a matter of pleasure for us that the blade developed by us has been used so perfectly and beautifully.

Congratulations for developing this beautiful knife.

Regards,
Suhel

[markusaurelius]

Great work on that knife! I really like the attention to detail in the finish of the buttcap and guard. What is the wood of the handle? I would guess ash by the look of it.

The wood is actually maple, but ash was a good guess!

It is really a matter of pleasure for us that the blade developed by us has been used so perfectly and beautifully.

Yes Suhel the knife did work out well, it needed some slight modifications near the back, however provided a great "base" to work with for someone such as myself who doesn't do iron work.

Perhaps we're starting with a false assumption, that knives like these were suspended on the person at all? Locations in graves of the majority suggests otherwise.

Perhaps the knives were not put in their sheath in the graves as we would think. Perhaps its was somehow the ritual that it would be simply laid in the grave as is. Who knows I guess....

[MDF]

Hi Markus,
very good knife, I like very much your research and especially the dots line on the blade.
What steel is it?

A question, were to find info on the richly decorated knife that you have posted?
I did not know this strange knife.

Again well done

[markusaurelius]

Here is the final product. I'm quite happy with how it turned out. The suspension method as well I think works wonderfully. I find it works very well with the organic parts used, and allows it to be suspended in a similar fashion as the earlier Pugio.

The wooden chape end, is from knife finds at Illerup, while the slide section I tired to follow the style again of the Silistra Spatha slide.

[attachment=5114]Illerup-chape.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=5115]Illerup-chape-2.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=5116]Slideexample.jpg[/attachment]

This knife has a 14cm blade, so could almost be considered a secondary weapon as opposed to a shorter narrower utility knife.

On to the next project....Belt and Scale armor.


[attachment=5109]4thCenturyKnife-complete1.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=5110]4thCenturyKnife-complete2.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=5111]4thCenturyKnife-complete3.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=5112]4thCenturyKnife-complete4.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=5113]4thCenturyKnife-complete5.jpg[/attachment]

[Caballo]

Excellent work. What material have you used for the chape?

[markusaurelius]

I used maple hardwood for the chape, carved out to fit (same wood as the handle). I used 5-6oz veg tanned leather for the sheath. Dyed it red and then used waxed natural linen thread for the stitching.

I custom made the "buttons" for the strap. Using sheet brass which I domed, for both a front and back. I filled them with solder and put a brass post between them. Then inscribed them and silvered them (quite a process actually!).

[Robert Vermaat]

Very nice result.