Folding knives from Novgorod excavations.

[Urban]

http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/novgorod ... Knives.jpg
http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/NovgorodMetalp.html

Most of the artifacts showcased on this page range from the 11th to the 15th century. I found a guy who has made a knife in this style, claiming it's 10th century, but I can't find any documentation to support that.

(his knife: http://www.britishblades.com/forums/sho ... 10th-cent.)

I can't tell from the extant example, but his brass handle looks distinctively modern to me. Has anyone ever tried to make one of these before? I think it would be a fun item to try to recreate, though I would almost rather shoot for a handle made of wood or bone (other extant fixed knives on the page have handles using that material).

If anyone has experience in this matter they'd be willing to share I'd appreciate it, thanks!

[PatternWeld]

The oldest known pocket folding knife was found in Hallstatt, Austria and is dated to between 600-500 BCE

The handles can be wood, bone, horn, antler, bronze, brass though the bronze & brass is more common for the later period Celtic and Roman ones.

Things this simple don't change much.

Grimr

[Baron Alcyoneus]

Romans had "Swiss Army Knives", so a single blade would be easy.

[James B.]

I suspect in this case the maker thinks it is a 10th century find when it is much later. This happens often with Novgorod finds, especially shoes.

[olaf haraldson]

There was a Viking-era one excavated from Canterbury....

[Kilkenny]

I suspect that the difference in 10th v. 11th century is one of convention and that there would be no dispute if the maker on British Blades had given a year, rather than a century.

[Mac]

Folcric,

I'm pretty sure that the folding knives http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/novgorod ... Knives.jpg in the pic are shaving razors, rather than utility knives. I don't know whether this effects your project or not, but I thought you might want to know.

Mac

[Chris Gilman]

Folcric,
One issue I see with his knife is the brass handle is not curved like the originals and seems too flat. The originals all have curved handles and a bit of wedge shape to the thickness. A little punch decoration on the handles would also help them look less modern.

Chris Gilman

[Mac]

Here is an example of a curved shaving razor from a 15th C German playing card.



Note the similarity of the blade shape. The handle is different, but that is a question of style more than function.

Mac

[Effingham]

Romans had "Swiss Army Knives"

Ahem. ATHAME EXERCITI HELVETIAE.

[Konstantin the Red]

EFINGHAMUS PRO VICTORII.

[Halvgrimr]

I believe this one is VA but Id need to hunt up the accompanying text to be sure.



Edit: Ah, this is the one from Canterbury that olaf mentioned above

http://forums.skadi.net/showthread.php? ... post924558

[Thomas Powers]

There is a nice example in "Knives and Scabbards, MOL", number 309 IIRC that has a boxwood handle.

I duplicated it closely once using all period techniques and materials (no modern abrasives for example) and found that even with the deep belly it works *GREAT* as an all round utility knife---I cut the leathers out for a bellows for example. As you can find quite bellied knives as cooking and eating tools I don't know if I would consider it a "razor only" type thing.

For another brass example the Klingen Museum in Solingen Germany has a roman example with cast brass "handle"

[Urban]

Chris, my thoughts exactly.

The razor thing makes sense, maybe I'll make two, one for shaving and one for more utilitarian use.

I'd prefer bone, but if I were going for wood, what types would be period?

[olaf haraldson]

Here's a reproduction of it that Chris Gilman made...
http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/gg22 ... g%20knife/

I believe this one is VA but Id need to hunt up the accompanying text to be sure.



Edit: Ah, this is the one from Canterbury that olaf mentioned above

http://forums.skadi.net/showthread.php? ... post924558

[Thomas Powers]

Well the one in Knives and scabbards was boxwood.

[Andeerz]

Wow. These knives are all gorgeous. I am quite surprised that such knives existed since time immemorial. I wonder if Spanish navajas conventionally associated with the gypsies go back further than the 15th century...

[Steinolf]

Tinker just finished one. He said he had more pics on his web site. http://tinkerswords.com/

[Thomas Powers]

There are several items that transcended the centuries almost unchanged.

I remember shocking a Fur Trade fellow by showing him that the fire steels he was selling were the exact same design as viking era ones.

The basic "block" anvil seems to have gone from Roman to modern times, the London pattern anvil is a johnny come lately though only a bit over 200 years depending on your definition.