Dagger construction

[6Sally5]

Hi y’all. Pretty noob knifemaker here. I made several drop point hunters, KBars, and such, but never an actual dagger. My project is a Fairbairn-Sikes Fighting knife. I have the profile roughed out, and the next step is baffling me. As daggers taper to a point on both faces, do I grind my primary bevels first or grind in the tapers first? The blade has not been heat treated yet, so I’d like to leave it a bit thicker to avoid warping. Yeah….she definitely needs a weight reduction, but the thickest part of the FB knife is only 1/8” thinner than what I have here. Also, if the tang looks short, I’ll be welding on an all-thread to accommodate a screw-on pommel. Thanks in advance.

 

[KenH]

I am NOT an expert on daggers. The very next step (for me) would be to weld the threaded extension, then Ht'ing. Heating after the extension is welded on will help release the stresses that build up during welding.

I'm a big fan of profiling (including thinning down to final thickness) everything before HT and grinding bevels after HT. You got a good looking dagger under way - congrats and have fun.

 

[6Sally5]

Well, I answered my own question by making some wooden blanks so I could try out a few approaches before ruining my steel. The first try came out essentially perfect. The answer is…the taper just happens as bevels are formed.

 

[6Sally5]

I am NOT an expert on daggers. The very next step (for me) would be to weld the threaded extension, then Ht'ing. Heating after the extension is welded on will help release the stresses that build up during welding.

I'm a big fan of profiling (including thinning down to final thickness) everything before HT and grinding bevels after HT. You got a good looking dagger under way - congrats and have fun.

Thanks Ken. I usually do an initial primary bevel grind prior to HT, but often pick up a small warp (I fix that during temper). This time, because the blade will be so thin, I’ll HT before any bevel grinding..especially since I just figured out the tapering happens at bevel grinding. ‍ I’ll post pics as the process continues.