I built this one around a German blade of unknown manufacturer or metal content which I obtained last year. It came with a hard black coating which I've tried to sand off, although there seem to be tiny crevices in the metal that made removing all of it impossible. I bought the guard from Crazy Crow some years ago; they seem (then and now) to use a faintly reddish brass, which is why it doesn't quite match the other fittings. The style of small sand-cast guards they sell has changed, becoming much more rounded at the ends.
The grip is American walnut, turned to shape - the first time I have ever created a lathed handle - flattened slightly at the butt end, and with hand-filed ridges above the ferrule. It's finished with Tried & True Varnish Oil, an old-fashioned varnish made of a mix of rosin and linseed oil such as was used in previous centuries. I followed directions from
The Muzzleloading Forum member Stophel and finished the wood with shellac, adding extra rosin dissolved in turpentine to the varnish to make the final product harder. The varnish has to be cured outdoors in sunny weather and turned repeatedly to ensure that all sides are exposed to the sun.
The scabbard is 4-5oz. veg-tan, stitched with linen thread and dyed with several applications of cochineal steeped in alcohol. I finished it with neatsfoot oil and then a beeswax-linseed oil blend, thoroughly buffing off excess color in between. The fittings are all brass. At the top is a ground-down hex nut; under it is a washer to hide the width of the tang hole (the tang is not tapered except at the threaded end) and the marks from the lathe's plum blossom bit. I silver-soldered the ferrule, throat and chape back seams closed; the frog button is also silver-soldered in place. I think that annealing thin sheet brass to make wrapping it around the scabbard easier also tends to lead to a sloppy appearance, and I may not do it in future. The ferrule detailing is etched rather than embossed, so the dots and lines are flat on top and have squared edges. Unfortunately, the staple method I devised of holding the throat in place prevents the guard from actually meeting the throat. I will need to come up with something better in future. Additionally, the hilt parts, throat and chape are attached with rosin-beeswax glue.
This pocket-sized dagger is roughly in the style of those made in Sheffield, England during the latter half of the 19th century, particularly (if antiques dealers may be trusted) the 1870s-1880s. It has a very thick blade for its width, so the edges are obtuse and not well-suited for cutting. I rarely if ever see these small daggers in frogs, so I suspect they were carried differently, but the frog button does function as a place for the thumb to push the scabbard off the blade.
