I've been growing increasingly interested in traditional German knives lately, and would rather like to try my hand at making one. The problem I've been running into is a seeming lack of reference material on the history and tradition of German knifemaking.
Any book suggestions or ideas of where to look would be greatly appreciated. Medieval era would work as well.
English would also be preferable.... I know a bit of German, but not near enough to make sense of a book.
Hi Geoff,
I realize your inquiry is over a year old but I didn't have a good answer for you until just now. Please take a look at the following link, which features many books on German knives, history, and culture. Most are in the German language but sometimes you just have to go right to the source.
"https://shops.buchfreund.de/store-524510/aqci/15425,539545/Blankwaffen" [copy and paste the link into your browser; the hyperlink wasn't working for some reason]
The bookseller is a German Arms and Armor auction house ( https://www.landshuter-ruestkammer.de/antiquariat/), and the link above is for the category "Blankwaffen" which loosely means edged weapons. There are other categories as well. One book that you may find interesting is called "Blankwaffen. Führer durch die Ausstellung, Deutsches Klingenmuseum Solingen" (Edged Weapons: A Guide Through the Galleries of the German Blade Museum in Solingen). Another one that might work is "Blankwaffen aus Drei Jahrhunderten" (Edged weapons from three centuries), but there are numerous others worth considering as well. They'll be happy to ship oversea,s and shipping from Germany to the US is far less expensive, and far more reliable than the USPS!
Yet another item worth considering is the book "Collection Guidebook: Meisterwerke der Hofjagd- und Rüstkammer" published by the Kunst Historisches Museum Wien (the Vienna Art History Museum). I ordered this book just last week and hope to have it in my library soon.
If you need help with translations, ordering etc. please just ask. In fact this goes for any ABS member interested in German or European edged weapons.
Good luck!
