DIY "Hilt For a Dirk!"

[sirdaniel1975]

Well, it's a good looking dirk - there can be no question about that. Colour, balance, match to the sheath and embellishments are all excellent. You have done a really good job and should be rightly proud of your accomplishments.

As to the hardness of the blade after the baking. If you don't plan to do too much disembowelling you should be alright.

Regards

Chas

Well, there might be a really good explanation why the tang bent very slightly on the end. This was the 2nd hilt attached to the blade.

1st hilt: The clay was around a brass candle stick and I then glued the hilt to the tang of the blade. It never dried right and removed it, through it out and started over. I had great difficulty removing all of the glue's residue and it was the flammable kind. I suspect the glue residue flamed up on the steal and created extra heat on the the exposed tang.

With what minor stress tests I've performed, the blade is solid. I do not see any chance of the blade bending.

1st hilt examples: