Bonespire Hand Forged Damascus Dagger Knife with Wood and Bone Handle & Leather Sheath | Collector and Display Gift | RK-474

Eight inches of double edged Damascus, 352 layers deep, on a 5.0 inch handle of wood and bone. The Bonespire runs 13.0 inches overall and it is noticeably heavier in the hand than it looks on a screen, which is what a properly made dagger should be. Weight is what tells you the tang runs all the way through and the grip is fitted to steel rather than glued to a stub. Where this shape sits among the others is set out in dagger shapes explained.

Daggers have a longer social history than almost any other blade. Through most of the medieval period in Europe a dagger was not a last resort but a piece of standard dress, worn on the belt by men who were not permitted swords, and it doubled as the eating knife at table. That is why so many surviving examples are decorated on the grip rather than the blade: the handle was the part everybody saw all day. The Viking age equivalent was the seax, single edged and heavier, and the double edged form that this piece follows came into its own later, when the point mattered more than the edge.

This one is forged, hardened, ground and fitted in the Czech Republic, and it ships in a fitted leather sheath with free shipping inside the United States.

Specifications

Symmetry, and why it is the hardest grind in the shop

A double edged blade has to be right twice over. There is no spine to carry a mistake, no flat side to keep as a reference, and no place to leave a bevel a little wider because nobody will look. Both edges have to arrive at the point together, the two grinds have to be the same width from the shoulders to the tip, and the point has to land exactly on the centre line of the blade.

The reason it matters is not only appearance. On a symmetrical blade, the centre line is the structural spine. If the two bevels are uneven, the thickest part of the steel wanders off centre and the blade becomes stiffer on one side than the other, which you can feel the moment you flex it. Get it right and the blade is rigid along its length while staying slim enough to look like a dagger rather than a wedge.

The other thing to look for is the plunge line, the point at each shoulder where the grind stops. On a hand ground blade those two lines should sit level with each other on both faces. Line them up by eye from the pommel and you will learn more about how a dagger was made in three seconds than from any description.

At 8.0 inches this sits in the upper middle of the range, long enough to have real presence on a wall or in a case and short enough to handle comfortably in one hand.

Why Damascus and not stainless

Real Damascus is a stack of steels, not a finish. Layers of 1095 and 15N20 are forge welded, folded, drawn out to 352 layers and finally etched, which is the moment the pattern appears. Because the two steels sit through the full thickness of the blade, no amount of grinding, sharpening or polishing will remove it.

The functional case is that this pairing gives you both halves of what a blade needs. The 1095 provides the carbon to reach 58 to 60 HRC and hold a fine edge on both bevels. The 15N20 brings nickel, which resists the etch to give the pattern its contrast and, more importantly, adds toughness so a slim double edged blade bends rather than breaks. Stainless would be less trouble to maintain and would give you neither the edge nor the pattern. The full case is in Damascus versus stainless.

Wood and bone in the hand

The grip alternates wood and bone, which is an old and very practical construction. The two materials wear at different rates and reflect light differently, so the eye reads the shape of the handle immediately and the hand finds its position without looking. Bone is harder and cooler, wood is warmer and slightly softer, and the boundary between them gives you a tactile index point.

Both are natural. The wood carries its own grain and the bone its own faint mottling, and no two grips come off the bench matching. Neither wants much. Keep the handle out of long soaks, keep it away from radiators, dashboards and direct sun, and give it a wipe of light oil once or twice a year so the wood does not shrink away from the bone. The routine is in wooden handle care and works for the bone as well.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel or the handle. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us whether it goes on the blade or the handle. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it.

An eight inch symmetrical blade gives an engraver a lot to work with, and a rune line running down the centre of one face follows the geometry of the piece rather than fighting it. Dates and initials sit well on the bone. All engraving is cut in this workshop before the piece is packed. Options and lead times are on the engraving page.

Care and sharpening

Left wet it will spot. Dried and oiled it will look the same in twenty years. Handle it with a cloth or wipe it down afterwards, because skin oils are acidic enough to print themselves permanently into a polished Damascus surface if they are left for weeks.

Store it out of the sheath if it is going to sit for months, since vegetable tanned leather holds moisture. Sharpening means matching both bevels, so count passes rather than working by feel: raise a burr along the full length of one edge, repeat on the other, then finish with light alternating strokes to drop the burr. Method in steel care and sharpening with a whetstone.

Made in the Czech Republic

This piece is made by hand in the Czech Republic, in a workshop that still works the old way. The steel is forged, ground, heat treated and finished by smiths who learned the trade from the people before them, and the wood, horn and leather are cut and fitted by hand rather than pressed out on a line. That is also why no two pieces come out exactly the same.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We import these pieces ourselves, check every one when it lands and ship from our warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives, so your runes or your own design go on before it leaves for you.

A note on handmade variation

This dagger is hand forged. It is not machine made and it is not bulk produced, so the piece that arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph on this page. Every billet moves differently under the hammer, so the Damascus figure is unique to your blade, and the wood and bone in the grip come from different material than the one photographed.

The dimensions, the steel, the layer count, the hardness and the build stay the same from one to the next. The grain, the tone, the pattern and the exact profile do not, because each is worked by hand from natural materials. That is what a handmade object is.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from the shorter daggers in the range

The main difference is presence. At 8.0 inches of blade this is a large dagger, so it holds a wall or a display case better and feels substantially heavier in the hand. The shorter pieces are easier to handle and sit better in a small case. The construction, the steel and the standard of grinding are the same.

Are both edges actually sharpened

Yes, both edges are ground and given a working edge. Treat the piece with that in mind, because a dagger has no safe spine to rest a thumb against and people who are used to single edged knives sometimes forget.

Is the tang full length

Yes. The tang runs the whole length of the handle with the wood and bone fitted around it, which is why the balance sits close to your hand and why the grip will not work loose over time.

Can I have runes cut into the bone rather than the steel

Yes. Tell us in the engraving option which surface you want. Bone takes a fine crisp line and holds contrast well, and it is a good choice when you want the blade left clean.

Will mine look like the photograph

Same length, same steel, same construction, different character. The Damascus pattern and the colour and figure of the wood and bone will be their own, which is unavoidable in anything hand forged from natural material.

How quickly does it ship

Processing is one to two weeks while the piece is made and finished by hand. Shipping inside the United States is free and returns are open for seven days after delivery.

What is in the box

• One Bonespire Damascus dagger knife
• Leather sheath
• Protective packaging
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

Nearby in the range: Dagger Knives, Swords and Viking Knives. Everything else worth knowing is written up in the guides.