Blade shapes

One of the things that can either complicate things or make them easy is the shape you decide to make a blade. Single- or double-edge, spear-point or drop-point, clip-point either straight or concave, leaf, or combinations thereof.

The basic dagger is simple enough, usually narrow with the sides either tapering from the base to the point, or parallel until they taper in to the point. Take a wide dagger parallel-side shape, there's your basic spear point. Take that, and between the ricasso(base where it meets the guard) and a spot a little behind the point, curve the edges in toward the center, kind of a wasp-waist, and you have a leaf. Start with a straight back, curve it down a little toward the point, then grind the edge up to meet it, you have a drop-point.

Take a spear-point, and on the back- about a third of the way back from the point- instead of a convex curve shape the back into a straight line to the point, you have a clip point. Instead of a straight line, you can grind a concave curve. And so on.

The cross-section of the piece can be any of several. Wide at the black tapering in straight or convex or concave angles to the point. The area between the back and the point where the angle to the edge- the bevel- starts can be flat, with one of the above noted shapes from that point on. A dagger is usually a diamond, widest in the centerline and tapering to both edges; it can also be flat on one side, with the tapers on the other, like a triangle. And in some blades you can combine these, depending on what you're after.

And what you pick depends on what you are trying to make. The original Bowie knife most likely looked a lot like a chef's knife; later versions had clip points that were sometimes sharpened. In a general-use blade, this has a lot going for it. A dagger is more limited in usefulness. A spear-point or sharpened clip bowie combines a good shape with the penetrating power in a thrust of a dagger.

My favorites to make are some variation on a drop- or clip-point, and the leaf-blade. For general use the first are hard to beat, and for beauty I love the leaf. Drawback of the leaf is finishing it; grinding and polishing one so the angles are even on both sides and along the curves is a bitch. But oh, when you get it right...