Here's a stiletto style dagger that I just finished, full custom from bar stock. My brother, Travis, has an identical blade. We started with a pair of blades and a challenge to push ourselves to more complex work. The blade is 154 CM stainless and the fittings are 416 stainless. The handle is mother of pearl with domed nickel silver pins, a fileworked frame, coined liners, and carved bolsters. The guard has shell ends, and carved studs. The studs are stainless screws that I shaped the head and screwed into tapped holes in the guard that were put there to hold them. Overall length is just short of 14 inches with a 9 inch blade. I'll have it on my table at the Dallas show June 13/14.

I've posted this around other places, and it's a stock removal dagger, but you guys are the dagger experts. Aside from the filework being unevenly spaced on the frame, and the gap at the rear bolster that I've fixed already, what critical feedback can you offer? I've never tackled a dagger of this magnitude before. I wrestled with what to do in terms of embellishment and design, and the whole thing was in flux all the way to the very end. For example, curved vs. straight guard. Handle to blade proportion. Guard width proportion. What to do with the various spacers and other design elements.