Daideo Dirk

**Oberu** · 10th September 12, 05:04 PM

This past year my wife's grandfather passed away. He left various things for all his children and grandchildren. I only met the man once at our wedding but he was warm and kind spirited man. To my wife, he left his collection of carved wooden ducks. Two of the ducks were rather large and made of Mexican Ironwood, which I've always loved. We live in a one bedroom apartment and are pressed on room so we decided that it would be sad but we didn't have room for the ducks. One night after a pint or two I was staring at this pile of ducks and decided I'd scavenge two of them to make a pair of carved dirks. I saw the post that KiltedCarver put up and decided to give it a try. For my initial attempt I beat the bejeebeez outta an old Hanwei dirk I had until the handle fell away in little satisfying chunks. Here's what I've got so far. Keep in mind it isn't finished quite yet but all the pieces are pretty much shaped and fitted for etching a polishing. It's been a lot of fun and good for releaving my stress. Please excuse our lousy camera LOL. Let me know what you think

The death of a duck

Duck thouroghly dead and turned to shape

That gut wrenching first cut made

Going to fast forward here.. so you don't get too bored, shaping the bolster.

The butt is huge.. yeah I said it. It centers the weight just at the bolster. *disregard the can of WD-40*
random fact WD-40 (which is water displacing liquid, batch 40 for trivia purposes)

A close look at the handle

assembled

I've yet to add brass fittings to the sheath as I'm not sure I'll keep it quite yet or start from scratch. I'm going to acid etch "Daideo" on the blade after I add a false edge on the tip of the spine and do some etching to the brass hardware as well to bring it out a bit. The second dirk has been started but I'm making the blade for it which will be quite a bit thicker in the spine and wider at the guard (using the steel from an old timber saw blade about 6' in diameter). I'll follow up with more pictures as I go. Hope you enjoy!

**Friday** · 10th September 12, 05:14 PM

The job is excellent. As an aside have you had anyone look at and value the ducks. It is not unusual for hand carved duck decoys to sell for the price of a hand made "8-yard" wool kilt.

**Oberu** · 10th September 12, 05:17 PM

I actually thought of that while smiting said pints. Iron wood floats pretty poorly and they are pretty cheap to purchase in Mexico. I've tried pricing Ironwood in pieces and it's nearly impossible to find. I originally wanted a piece to make handles for my single action 45 for cowboy events but couldn't for the life of me find any. The ducks I "murderized" were for decoration only : )

**chewse** · 10th September 12, 05:29 PM

Really nice!

**Friday** · 10th September 12, 05:38 PM

Then I am very glad it has gone for a good purpose. It does look good.

**hylander** · 11th September 12, 07:58 AM

Thanks for the walk through, looks great! I have wondered how difficult it would be to remove handle of that particular dirk, thanks for confirming my suspicions. I love the shape of that blade but never liked the huge handle it comes with.

Great job!

**creagdhubh** · 11th September 12, 08:15 AM

Well done!

**Tobus** · 11th September 12, 08:16 AM

Wow! The final result is outstanding! Not knowing anything about the original dirk or its handle, I would have guess that this was the original handle. Looks like a perfect fit and match, and the details are incredible. I love the 'old world' look of the carving and colour of the wood.