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. A certificate of authenticity is included and signed by Ádám.  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.