Finished Medieval Eating Knife

Click on the photos to get a bigger view


Sod it! On this occasion I am going to have to concede that someone else is right. It looks that Tod's claim that 'Anyone can do anything' certainly applies to making a knife. With only a minimal amount of basic tools I have assembled the knife, made the sheath and decorated it. And I have to say I am extremely pleased with the result.

The above image is of the back of the sheath, showing the tight seam running down the back. you can also see the grain in the handle. I am particularly pleased with the choice of Lacewood for the handle. I had to research Lacewood on the net before making my choice and I thought it looked quite unusual. It is a very delicate looking wood with a very pleasing pattern in the grain. By carefully selecting the best part of the scales provided for the handle I have managed to get a pretty handle, which I hope the photos here do justice to. It's even better in your hand.

The front of the sheath showing the tooling, a repeating pattern of diagonal lines and crosses made up of five rectangles. The tooling adds a nice touch and helps to make the sheath unique. The sheath has been dyed with red leather dye, some pretty evil stuff, but worth using. This photo shows the handle clearly with the brass bolster and the two brass rivets through the handle. The brass bolster is held in place by a brass rivet which is filed down to the point where it is almost invisible. The circular mark on the blade is Tod's mark.

The finished knife in the sheath. It is a tight fit, which is good news as I would be gutted if it drops out and I lose it.

So with only the use of some files, a vice, sandpaper, a hacksaw, coping saw, hammer and the kit supplied by Tod I have managed to construct my own eating knife. This is not a way of saving money; it is only three or four pounds more to get one made by Tod, but it is deeply satisfying to do and I will be very pleased to wear this next season. Thanks Tod.

BTW if I wouldn't say no to winning the big prize:0)

Knife Progress

OK so it wasn't quite done in a weekend, but here are some photos of the progress made on the knife project. I am rather chuffed with the results so far.


Knife with wooden scales cut rough shape and brass bolsters rough shaped too.


Two shots of the handle in different light. The handle is made from Lacewood, which has a pretty and subtle pattern to it, which is proving hard to photograph well. This is the handle mostly finished with the brass rivets in.


Knife and sheath. The sheath is double layered, and needs to be as the blade is ferociously sharp. It just awaits dying now. So project nearly complete, and as I said I am really pleased how this has gone so far. If I don't win Tod's main prize I won't mind too much as I will have a really nice knife that I made myself. However, Tod if you are reading this...

A weekend project

A little packet arrived for my last week, special delivery. The contents are below.



Some of you will know what they are looking at and others will be wondering what the hell is that lot? Well it's pretty straightforward really. It is a kit for making a medieval eating knife from Tod of Tod's Stuff and The English Cutler www.todsstuff.co.uk . I won a the first round of a competition and this was the prize. Now the deal is, assemble the knife and sheath, and send Tod photos of the completed project to win this...

Belt, turned bollock pouch and a Burgundian Rondel (that's the knife) and jolly sharp too. I am going to take photos as i make it. I have never done anything like this before so we shall see how it turns out. Tod's axiom is that with a bit of application anyone can do anything. Let's see if he is right. Right I am off to the garage to get working.

Cheers for now:0)