Is there any technical reason or even traditional reason for the direction of the flute twist?

I don't think flute direction matters.

As Kevin said "broom handles" are an abomination. Handle material?

Does your choice of material exude class and elegance; it should. And not just to you; you are not trying to impress yourself but to show your abilities to others.

For cutting the slots for your wire the simplest method is grinding down a hacksaw blade to the thickness that corresponds to your twist diameter. Have about a 3/8 to 1/2 inch long cutting part. Super glue two pieces on the back of the cutter so that the depth is locked. Makes cutting the slots the simplest part.

The number of flutes; does it look right?

Symmetrical flutes are high lighted by the wire; as are unsymmetrical ones!

Someone else can chime in; I have to get coffee.

M

I got my coffee. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//biggrin.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />

Tell you what, I was in town yesterday and thought I'd grab a couple different tooth-count blades to play with and when I measured both of the brand new hack saw blades, they were only about .028"!!

There was nothing to grind down.

My 2 strands of 24 gauge is .040.

And I will say this, Steve's WIP on his dagger is the only reference a person would need to see to successfully build a dagger.

It is fantastic.

But we all know how many ways that cat can get skinned.

It is my hope that others will show their methods.

Hopes that will probably go unfulfilled - but hopes, none-the-less.

Thanks for chiming in Mike.

For me it is not the unwillingness to do a W.I.P., but then I think I have demonstrated that and I am grateful to Dan for posting some of my previous efforts. But time is the real factor, I need to finish this post and then bury myself in a few PowerPoint presentations for the Smokey Mountain hammer-in next weekend, and sometime before, or right after, get my stock for the Badger show done. W.I.P.s are very time consuming and by the time I could get to one we would certainly have a new topic of the month.

Kevin

I can do a lot with your Power Point presentation materials using my Final Cut Pro X video editing software. We can talk after your Quillon Dagger demonstrations at the Hammer-In in North Carolina.

I thought I might share this here.

To make/create/flute/etc. the handle, first one must sort of get one fitted - right?

So I was getting things shaped up and having my morning coffee and had this thought about checking alignment of things.

If you have a bit of threaded finial - stick it in your lathe!

You will find out really quick if you have your ducks in a row.

I'm one of the slackers that know how to do the dagger grips but don't post. If I were smart enough to post I would. How the heck do I insert an image? I use photo bucket and have over 7000 pictures on-line other places but can't figure out how to put one here.

Hi Bruce,

I just sent you an email, explaining how to post photos to the Forum. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />