Texasbadger, If ya want guys stuff to look at, here's some guys stuff for ya! Prepare to be awash in testosterone!
I bought this old dagger from a guy in the UK who had been traveling in South Africa. He picked it up at a "junk shop" 12 years before. According to the shopkeeper, an elderly man in need of cash came into his store with this one day and said an ancestor of his had pulled it off of a square-rigger that had wrecked in Qolora Mouth, a trecherous stretch known for shipwrecks, that was just slightly north of the junk shop.
I put it up on sword forums and had several people involved in historic maritime weaponry take a look at it. What this is is a dagger that is made from a sword, likely broken in battle in antiquity and cut down and sharpened so that it could be used again as a dagger, apparently belonging to sailor.
Here is how it looked when I got it:
I spent several hours very carefully removing the rust after getting some recommendations to remove the rust and oil the blade properly to protect it:
The blade absolutely wicked looking on close inspection. You can see where it was filed down and it is full of battle-scars, classic sword blocks and knicks. When I handed it over to my instructor at a maritime combat seminar he looked it over and said "Jesus, you know a few people died on
that blade!"
The original sword was a French-made Hussar-style saber, dating about 1790-1830. It would have looked something like this before it was broken:
Will that do Texasbadger? *grin* Sailin' ships, n' spurtin' blood... Fiestaware be damned to the depths sez I!! ARRRRRRRR!!!