I'm writing a story that takes place in the 1890's in the US. A blacksmith's apprentice forges a dagger to sell - nothing fancy, but not half bad. Any idea what the handle would be made of; what would be the price if it were being sold at the local saloon? Here's the description in the story: The dagger turned out to be a half decent piece of work, with a bone handle, a nicely shaped quillion, and a blood groove that ran the right distance so as to not leave any flex in the point. The double edges of the blade were fine honed. It wasn't a dagger that would win any prizes, but it would bring a price that could be nicely split.

Most likely a local wood, cheap and readily available. Bone or stag could be used if it were available as well.



Seeing it was the blacksmith's apprentice who made the knife and not the more experienced blacksmith, probably around a dollar.

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OMG! You are great. Thank you.

I am not a collector of daggers, but I do not recall ever seeing a fullered (blood groove)dagger.
Most quillion daggers have a flattened diamond shape blade, which makes it nice and strong against bending to the side when stuck in an opponent. A fuller (blood groove) would make the blade flat and make the blade extremely weak at the fuller. Why would he do that?
The purpose of a fuller is usually to save weight by removing steel, or for a little added strength. The purpose of a fuller (blood groove) is NOT to let blood out or let air back in the body! Those are old wives tales.
To put a fuller on a quillion dagger would probably mean it would bend at the fuller when attempting to stab with the dagger. Even an apprentice would have in his head the geometry of a usable blade and be able to spot the obvious weakness in that design.

I hope I didn't ruin your story, but I perceive the reason for your visit to AAPK is for historical accuracy in your story.

Welcome aboard.

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Very nice Dale, always learn something on this site......

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