Hand-Forged Renaissance Dagger, Flame Blade

A dagger whose edges run in a series of waves rather than a straight line. The German sources call the blade type a Flammenschwert when it appears on a sword, and the same treatment was applied to daggers — particularly to the left-hand parrying daggers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, where an expensive, difficult blade on a small weapon was exactly the sort of thing a gentleman paid for.

This one carries 15 inches of double-edged waved blade on a 6 inch hilt, with a straight steel cross whose quillon ends curl back toward the grip, a stepped collar, a timber grip with a flared butt and a tooled leather sheath. The waves run from just above the guard through the upper two thirds of the blade, then the profile settles and runs out straight to an acute point.

Catch things. The quillon ends on this dagger curl back toward the grip rather than finishing flat or flaring outward, and that shape is the signature of the parrying dagger: a hook gives an opposing blade somewhere to stop rather than sliding off. Bind an incoming blade against the cross and the hook is what keeps it there for the half-second that matters.

That is the historical function and we are not going to overstate it on a piece that will mostly hang on a wall. What the hooks genuinely do for a modern owner is protect the hand from a blade sliding down toward the fingers, and give the guard a purposeful shape rather than a decorative one. Everest Forge has never opened this subject on another page, so here it is properly rather than as a passing note.

Very little, and we cover this at length on our flame-bladed sword page rather than repeating the whole argument here. The short version: a waved edge puts more inches of steel in contact with what you are cutting, and in a bind it gives an opposing blade something to catch on. That is the honest list.

What the waves do not do is make the blade cut deeper, make it stronger, or set up any vibration that damages a parried weapon. Those stories follow wavy blades everywhere and none of them survive contact with how blades are actually used. Buy this one because it looks extraordinary, which it does.

Not on a flat stone. A bench hone rides across the crests and never reaches the hollows, so the edge ends up sharp on the high points and dull in the troughs — the worst of both. You need a round tool that follows the curve: a tapered round file to reprofile, a ceramic or diamond rod to maintain, worked along each wave in turn.

It takes roughly three times as long as a straight edge of the same length. On a 15 inch blade with waves through two thirds of it, that is a real commitment, and it is the genuine ownership cost of a flame blade. Worth knowing before rather than after, which is why it is here and not in small print.

670 grams, which over a 15 inch blade works out at about 45 grams per inch. For a 15 inch double-edged blade that is a sensible figure rather than a heavy one — historical blades of this length and section run somewhere in the region of 500 to 800 grams, and this sits comfortably in the middle of that.

It is worth saying plainly because it is not true of everything we make. Several of our swords run well above their historical comparators, and we say so on those pages. This one does not, and part of the reason is the waves themselves: cutting an undulating profile removes steel from the edges along the whole length, which takes weight out without taking strength from the spine.

The standard build carries a 15 inch blade and a 6 inch hilt, 21 inches overall. That is a default rather than a fixed specification — everything we make is forged after the order, so the dimensions are yours to set.

Fifteen inches is long for a dagger and short for a sword, which is roughly where the historical left-hand daggers sat. Shorter, around 10 to 12 inches, brings it closer to a belt dagger and is easier to own in a good many places. Longer takes it toward short-sword territory and changes both the handling and the legal picture. Tell us which and we will build the sheath to match.

It is built on the pattern, and the hooked quillons are the reason. A parrying dagger is a left-hand weapon: it holds the line and traps an opposing blade while the sword hand does the work, which is why the guard matters more on one of these than the point does.

For actual use, order the stage combat build — rebated edge, rounded tip, free of charge — and understand that this one is built to our usual robust standard rather than to a fencer's weight. If you want a properly light historical parrying dagger for paired work, ask and we will build to a target weight rather than to the standard specification. That is a more useful conversation than a checkbox.

Yes, both edges sharpened through every wave and ready to use, unless you tell us otherwise. Sharpening a flame blade properly takes longer than a straight one and it is done by hand along each undulation rather than dragged down the blade.

Unsharpened builds are free for display or for an awkward import, and on a blade bought for its silhouette an unsharpened build loses you very little. A stage combat build — rebated edge, rounded tip — is available at the same price.

5160 high-carbon spring steel, which we use across the whole range. The blade is forged to shape, quenched, and then tempered back by hand as a separate operation afterwards. Those two steps are distinct and the second is what matters: quenching alone leaves a blade hard and brittle, and tempering trades a little hardness for toughness.

It matters slightly more on a waved blade than a straight one, because the profile means the blade is narrower at the hollows than at the crests and the section is not constant along its length. A blade left hard and untempered finds the narrow points first. 5160 is not stainless, rusts if left damp, and holds an edge far better than any stainless we could sensibly forge. We do not make pattern-welded or laminated blades at all, by choice.

A timber grip with a flared butt, a stepped steel collar with incised rings between the grip and the guard, and a polished steel cross with quillon ends curling back toward the hand. The metal is forged and hand-finished rather than cast.

Grip material and colour are both selectable at no extra cost — horn, bone, micarta and leather over timber are all available, and the sheath is matched to whatever you choose. If you want a wire-wrapped grip, which is the most period-plausible option for a dagger of this pattern, that is available too.

A tooled leather sheath shaped to the blade, with an incised lattice worked into the body, a laced panel over the throat through brass eyelets, brass studs and a belt fitting. The incised lines are cut into the leather rather than printed on it.

The lacing draws the throat closed around the blade, so the sheath holds without needing a strap over the guard — which matters on a dagger with hooked quillons, because a retaining strap would have to work around them. Colour, tooling and carry arrangement are all yours to specify.

Nothing is held in stock. Every blade is forged after the order arrives, which is why the dimensions, the grip, the furniture and the edge are all free to change — there is no standard version already made. Standard builds dispatch in 2 to 3 business days; genuinely custom work runs 4 to 6 weeks depending on the queue.

It ships sheathed and braced in a rigid carton, by DHL or FedEx with tracking, typically 7 to 14 business days from Kathmandu. Import duty and local taxes are the buyer's responsibility. Note that a double-edged symmetrical blade is regulated more tightly than a single-edged knife in many places, often with no length threshold — please check what applies where you live before ordering.