Adam Bodorics – Landsknecht 16th Century All-Steel Dagger
This all-steel dagger, made in a style appropriate for a Landsknecht mercenary of the early 16th century was handcrafted by Ádám Bodorics of Landsknecht Emporium. Only available in limited quantities, these unique crafted daggers make a perfect final touch to a Landsknecht ensemble. Although elegant in its proportions, the dagger has a fullered hexagonal geometric cross section to give it great rigidity and durability – this is a dagger that is capable of deftly piercing thick cloaks and clothing, or through the weaker points of an armored harness with alarming ease. The dagger is paired with a tough wood core scabbard that is embellished with steel fittings to match the blade with a unifying theme.
Below are some comments from Ádám about these limited daggers that he has crafted:
“In the 16th century, a peculiar style of daggers appeared. Specimens share details from rondels, quillon daggers and ballocks. While they could be forced into one or more of these categories, they are a thing of their own and the current consensus is to just call them Landsknechtdolchen, “Landsknecht daggers”. Several of them have all-metal hilts and a few are all-steel, with the grip and pommel being hollow constructions.
This specific model’s hilt is based on an original in a private collection. It’s made from six individual hand-formed pieces, silver-soldered together. The tang passes through the dished top plate and is peened over it. Like several daggers, it offers a very secure grip, locking the user’s fist between guard and pommel. Looking at the dagger from the flat, level with the cross, it could be interpreted as a rondel or a quillon
dagger, but even at a slight tilt, a distinctly ballock-like silhouette appears. The blade is my own design, but elements can be found on several originals. It is entirely optimized for thrusting with it’s narrow profile and relatively obtuse angles – the actively reinforced tip emphasizes it even further, and makes the dagger suitable to go against mail-covered targets. The fuller and the hollow hilt keeps the weight low despite the maximal thickness reaching 7mm.
The scabbard is also based on multiple originals and illustrations. The black leather-covered wooden core is close to semi-circular in cross-section, with the back being flat. The steel chape and mouth are made
from multiple hand-formed and silver-soldered pieces, and emulate the clothing fashion of the time. While surviving pieces of the style are generally high-status items, we see plenty of simpler, lower status iterations on woodcuts from the period. A steel belt loop is silver-soldered on the back of the mouth at an angle. It works best with 20-25mm wide belts.
All steel surfaces except for the edges were finished by files and scrubbed aggressively afterwards to soften the tool marks without removing them entirely. The intention was to create a surface fitting a low
ranking mercenary who still wants to present extravagance.”
🗡️ In the 16th century, a unique style of daggers called Landsknechtdolchen, or "Landsknecht daggers," emerged.
🗡️These daggers combined elements from rondels, quillon daggers, and ballocks, but are distinct in their own right.
🗡️This specific model's hilt is based on an original in a private collection, made from six hand-formed pieces soldered together.
🗡️ The dagger offers a secure grip, locking the user's fist between the guard and pommel.
🗡️ The blade is optimized for thrusting, with a narrow profile, obtuse angles, and a reinforced tip for targeting mail-covered opponents.
🗡️ The scabbard emulates the fashion of the time, and simpler versions can be seen in woodcuts from the period.
Adam Bodorics – Landsknecht 16th Century All-Steel Dagger
🗡️Although elegant in its proportions, the dagger has a fullered hexagonal geometric cross section to give it great rigidity and durability – this is a dagger that is capable of deftly piercing thick cloaks and clothing, or through the weaker points of an armored harness with alarming ease.
The dagger is paired with a tough wood core scabbard that is embellished with steel fittings to match the blade with a unifying theme.
This one of a kind, custom made thick-spined dagger is quite robust and rigid and is well-tempered and sharpened and comes with plenty of mass to power it decisively through its target and a clipped tip point gives it impressive puncture ability as well.
Below are Ádám’s own thoughts on his one of a kind custom creation:
Bauernwehrs, the dagger-sized relatives of Messers, took a variety of forms utilizing several different construction methods. This piece would fit in best at the turning point of the 15th and 16th centuries. The slightly curved blade is forged and ground from 80crv2 high-carbon steel, heat-treated to 54-56 HrC. There’s a shallow and relatively narrow fuller ground into both sides along the spine, terminating under the bolsters as is customary in the period. There’s just enough distal taper in the blade to make it lively without allowing the pommel to make it too hilt-heavy. The bolsters are decorated with filework. The strong change in cross-section between the “guard” and the body of the bolsters is a common feature on originals and can be seen on protokatzbalgers, Messers and Bauernwehrs alike.
The edge of the Nagel is filed in a pattern that I came up with myself. The idea was to create something unprecedented to my current knowledge, yet make it fit the overall aesthetics. The pommel is affixed by silver solder onto the heavily tapering tang. The shape is categorized as type CC2 in the Elmslie-typology and is defined by the bottom being made up of multiple curves and lines as opposed to CC1 pommels, where it’s a single curve. Originals of this type of pommel exhibit huge variance from quite simple and rounded forms all the way to the highly sculptural works of Hans Sumersperger. This version falls in the middle of the spectrum.
The grip panels are Gabon ebony and are affixed by gluing and tubular rivets peened in the fuller running along the entire hilt. The scabbard has a wooden core and a luxuriously decorated leather wrap. The Totentanz motif is my own design, and so are the vines and flowers but all take inspiration from illustration and codex marginalia from the 15th-16th centuries. There are raised leather channels in the back for a leather thong for vertical carry on a belt.
The Bauernwehr is the dagger-sized relative of the Messer, and it also exhibits noticeable variation. This specific piece has no historical analogue as far as I know, rather it’s an interpretation of a trend present on a variety of different sidearms from the period. All-metal and full-steel sidearms appear with some regularity from the end of the 15th century.
We see it on an early rapier, a glorious Kriegsmesser, several quillon daggers, stortas – so to me it made sense to create a Bauernwehr in this style.
This stylistically unique and custom, crafted, one of a kind Bauerwehr by Ádám Bodorics has a sharpened and well tempered blade which is solidly constructed and matched to a hilt of #steel.
Ádám Bodorics – Ebony Grip Bauernwehr with Totentanz Motif Scabbard
This custom crafted Bauernwehr by specialist bladesmith Ádám Bodorics matches an elegant, but powerful-striking Bauernwehr fighting dagger with a marvelously crafted scabbard with hand tooled and handpainted Totentanz motif. The thick-spined dagger is quite robust and rigid and is well-tempered and sharpened and comes with plenty of mass to power it decisively through its target and a clipped tip point gives it impressive puncture ability as well. The grip has a bolster, pommel and nagel of steel and two grip halves of finely carved and smoothed ebony which are riveted directly to the thick blade tang which is tapered for improved overall balance. The included wood-core scabbard is bound in wood and meticulously hand tooled to create a complete package that is a fine custom piece to complete your Landsknecht kit. Below are Ádám’s own thoughts on his custom creation:
Bauernwehrs, the dagger-sized relatives of Messers, took a variety of forms utilizing several different construction methods. This piece would fit in best at the turning point of the 15th and 16th centuries. The slightly curved blade is forged and ground from 80crv2 high-carbon steel, heat-treated to 54-56 HrC. There’s a shallow and relatively narrow fuller ground into both sides along the spine, terminating under the bolsters as is customary in the period. There’s just enough distal taper in the blade to make it lively without allowing the pommel to make it too hilt-heavy. The bolsters are decorated with filework. The strong change in cross-section between the “guard” and the body of the bolsters is a common feature on originals and can be seen on protokatzbalgers, Messers and Bauernwehrs alike.
The edge of the Nagel is filed in a pattern that I came up with myself. The idea was to create something unprecedented to my current knowledge, yet make it fit the overall aesthetics. The pommel is affixed by silver solder onto the heavily tapering tang. The shape is categorized as type CC2 in the Elmslie-typology and is defined by the bottom being made up of multiple curves and lines as opposed to CC1 pommels, where it’s a single curve. Originals of this type of pommel exhibit huge variance from quite simple and rounded forms all the way to the highly sculptural works of Hans Sumersperger. This version falls in the middle of the spectrum.
The grip panels are Gabon ebony and are affixed by gluing and tubular rivets peened in the fuller running along the entire hilt. The scabbard has a wooden core and a luxuriously decorated leather wrap. The Totentanz motif is my own design, and so are the vines and flowers but all take inspiration from illustration and codex marginalia from the 15th-16th centuries. There are raised leather channels in the back for a leather thong for vertical carry on a belt.
