Morgul Holdout Stiletto

[tsterling]

Well, now for something a bit different. I came up with this idea watching the Lord of the Rings movies, and was picturing the head Nazgul (the Witch King) hanging around the Black Tower playing poker with his minions. I wondered what sort of weaponry such a gambler might employ to deal with a minion who was winning too frequently. I don’t picture a Nazgul as being a very good loser. Here’s the result of that muse…..Oh, yes, it's 8 inches long and made from 1/4 inch square W1 carbon steel and 24k gold.





I’ve (loosely) based the rawhide sheath on the Bell Dirks. For those few of us not familiar with them, Bell Dirks are contemporaries of of the famous Bowie knives, and were highly decorated, long slim daggers typically carried by gamblers and other “gentlemen.†The sheaths had a “frog†(button) that was intended to be worn by slipping the dagger inside the waistband of the trousers, and the “frog†buttoned into a vest buttonhole, thus keeping the handle of the dagger easily at hand.

You can see an ad nauseum, 5-part blow-by-blow description of the process at my blog starting here: http://sterlingsculptures.com/wp/?p=2374

Thanks for looking!

Tom

 

[Willem Parel]

that's quite an unusal stilleto, very nice made and a very nice technique to make the cubes, thanks for sharing.

 

[LVVP]

Interesting part, thanks for sharing

 

[Hot Knobs]

Very different and unique, great craftsmanship, I was not aware of the bell dirks, have made the push daggers carried by the gamblers. Thanks for posting Deane

 

[mrthe]

Very cool! I like it very much! Congratulations.

 

[glstrcowboy]

I'm not sure which is more impressive, the actual work or the imagination it took to even start. Very nice. Remind me not to play cards with you.

 

[monk]

strange, cool, different & nice come to mind.

 

[Artemiss]

I really like it. Well done.

Jo

 

[mtgraver]

Tom,
I very nice sleek piece of work. Thanks for the explanation on the cubes, might have pondered that for a while! lol
Mark

 

[tsterling]

Thanks, folks! I appreciate the feedback. This one was a lot of fun, and a little bit of a headache. I did discover W1 doesn't like to be bent while cold - my first try at the cube twist went really well, but there was a tiny little unstraight place at the pommel end. It just needed a tiny bend, and after all, the steel had been heated quite hot for the twisting and should have been soft...snap! I suspect W1 does a little bit of air-hardening, so on to the second try.....

Tom