the best place to get a traditional knife blank?

[Stophel]

If I may ask: what are those five sources of documentation?

Things have changed a LOT since 1976 (mostly NOT for the better! :haha: ) but as to understanding every day 18th century life, things are VASTLY improved. Even just a few years ago, information was sometimes hard to come by. But now, with a little work, you can find out almost all you want to know about almost any subject. Frankly, other than the internet, I'd say the 21st century so far has nothing else positive to offer! :haha:

 

[Stophel]

By the way, here is the knife found while digging at the harbor in Philadelphia. And this is the one and only photo that I am aware of.
http://www.historicalimagebank.com...album47/RWe102d_Riflemans_knife_copy.jpg.html

Knives like this one, no one doubts. I'm sure the "Ticonderoga" knife was similarly finished. Simple spike tang blade (likely imported, but sure, it's conceivable that an American blacksmith could have occasionally made a knife blade), pressed into a shed antler crown, and probably glued in place. Quick, cheap, and easy, no guards, no pins, no rivets, no end caps, no peened tangs. Even Daniel Boone himself appears to have a knife like this in his belt in the famous 1820's series of portraits. It's later, of course, but I still doubt that this knife has a guard. Guards (especially double quillon guards) don't jibe all that well with 18th century style center seamed stuck-into-the-belt type sheaths. Some find that guards also tend to get in the way of many cutting chores.

Take that Ticonderoga blade, or the one above, and stick a simple flat guard on it between the blade and handle and there you have a "rifleman's knife". Could it have been done 220+ years ago? Sure. WAS it done though? Well, maybe, but it seems that if it was done at all, it certainly was not common. I think that the great plethora of such knives that we have extant today that are like this are from the mid 19th century, again, following the Bowie knife craze. Without some proof of date, they're just "old knives".

I, personally, will never fuss at anyone for his choice of knife (or axe, or shirt, or hat, or whatever). If that's what floats your boat, more power to ya. But when one says "this item is historically accurate", it's nice if some kind of evidence is offered for such a statement.

 

[Artificer]

Some people may have used the knife on the left in the following link as documentation for a "Rifleman's Knife" back in the 1970's. It is actually a Scottish Gralloch or Hunting Knife that was usually part of a three knife set used by Scottish (and some English) Gamekeepers. Even without a guard, it seems to be the quintessential ancestor of what many people thought were Riflemen's knives.

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/6802/dsc0016copy.jpg

The problem, though, is these do not show up much (if at all) in 18th century American excavation sites.

The above photo is from Scottish swords and dirks;: An illustrated reference guide to Scottish edged weapons by John Wallace, 1970. http://www.amazon.com/Scottish-swords-dirks-illustrated-reference/dp/0811715094

Gus

 

[LRB]

That center seam sheath in the first link looks very much like those I make. Thanks Gus.

 

[Rifleman1776]

If I may ask: what are those five sources of documentation?

I can't remember wat I had for breakfast. Oh! Have I had breakfast yet?
Gimme a break, nearly forty years ago. One was a book kept in the NMLRA HQ office. Others from local library, an old Muzzle Blasts, etc. It wuz all we had. Plus reading I have done since confirm the image I have of the volunteer Rev. Rifleman. And, what some carried as their knife. FWIW, there is a reason why they were often called "Longknives" by friend and foe alike.
Fini. :v

 

[LRB]

It is pretty well established that Virginian colonists were called long knives from way before the rev war in the 17th c., but not necessarily all whites were called that. It is supposed by some/most, that the name came from the swords worn by militia and Brit officers. The term was meant to separate Virginians from other colonists, and had nothing to do with actual long knives, or riflemen carrying them.