Dagger Knives

A short bladed weapon designed for stabbing or thrusting –there’s no other more obvious way to describe Dagger Knives. Daggers have been known to exist since prehistoric times as tools used by primeval men as weapons for hunting or defense and were mostly made out of bone, ivory and flint.

It later evolved into a more symbolic icon of an object when it was used in pre-dynastic Egypt as ornaments in ceremonies, or as symbols of power and authority. In this use, daggers were specially adorned with golden hilts or later specially constructed to be of aesthetic value. It was starting this era when the dagger knives’ composition became of metals, gold, iron, bronze and copper.

Former Iberia, now known as Southern Spain and Southwestern France, produced a good variety of quality daggers; what with the sheer purity of Iberian Iron and the refined forging techniques of the Iberians, coupled with designs influenced by the Greeks and Phoenicians, Iberian Dagger Knives proved to be not only of exceptional quality but also of remarkable class.

The pointed thrusting shape of the dagger has proved ideal in medieval times when plate armors have become popular and slashing an opponent in combat would prove futile. Pointed Dagger Knives were a suitable weapon in this era where one would have to thrust directly at the armor plates’ weak intersections or into eye slits of metal helmets.

The modern dagger knife, on the other hand, still remained a weapon of combat most especially durings the second world war as they were carried by most infantry and commando forces.

Nowadays, though dagger knives are still quite popular for close combats, most especially in combative professions like the army, since the dawn of machined weapons, the dagger has been mostly for symbolic, ornamental, self-defense, or collectible purposes.

In its symbolic use, the dagger may be notorious for treachery or stealth because of the ease there is in concealing it from the enemy, or at some cases, it may be symbolic of courage and power.

In close combats, a variation of daggers are kabar knives which are combat knives first adopted by the U.S. Marine corps in the 1940s. The blade is of the bowie type and the hilt and sheaths are of leather. Other variants such as the Al Mar evolved from the original dagger, only differing in curves, construction, materials, and specific use.

The dagger, in its history and original purpose for combat and hunting, has also come a long way when it comes to its ornamental properties. Due somewhat to the symmetry present in its blade, dagger knives have also been coined as “art knives” and have been modeled and crafted specifically for artistic purposes such as Warenski’s replica of the golden dagger found in the famous King Tut’s tomb.

Along with the rise of the art knives followed the daggers’ collectible value –some art knives may cost as much as tens of thousands of dollars, and some may only be found in museums and places of material archiving.