The Story of Jackdaw:

500 years before the age of the Winds, much of Illantul was enslaved by a cult of evil monks.  The monks were said to have harnessed the powers of the night through blood sacrifices to a mythical bird demon, Jackdaw.  The powers the Monks claimed from their demon cowed the people of Illantul and their evil went unchecked.  That is until a local blacksmith, Bardone, lost his only child to the monk’s sacrificial rituals.  Locked away in his forge, Bardone harnessed his unbearable grief to forge a blade meant to carry out his vengeance.  In either an act of defiance to the monks or his own madness, he named the blade Jackdaw, after the very demon the monk’s revered.  Upon the blade’s completion Bardone traveled to the monk’s temple from which he emerged as the only survivor. How could a simple blacksmith defeat the monks the town’s people asked? Bardone told a tale of how the blade he forged simply flew from his hand like a bird of death, slaying the monks, before flying back to settle in the sheath he wore.  So thus the legend was born of Jackdaw, the magical blade that could fly and fight on its own in times of great need.

 Actual Design and Construction:

The blade was forged by Windlass Steelcrafts using 1085, High Carbon Steel.  I have etched a lone Raven, known as a Jackdaw, framed by the full moon onto both sides of the blade.  The cross guard is fashioned and etched in the shape of feathers from solid brass. The fluted handle is carved from African Blackwood and sits atop of a brass spacer.   The skull crusher brass pommel nut was hand carved and locks down the winged pommel which is etched in feathers to match the guard, completing this dagger’s through tang, “takedown” design.

Specifications:

Blade length- 12 inches

Overall length-17.5 inches

Hand grip length- 3.5 inches

Blade width at widest point- 1.625 inches

Guard width- 3.625 inches

Weight- 17.2 oz

Balance Point- .75 inches in front of guard

 Sheath Construction:

The Sheath is a traditional dagger sheath design (wet formed to the blade with hand stitching down the back spine) constructed of 4-5 oz premium veg tan leather. The body of the sheath is tooled entirely with interlocking dragon scales, stained and antiqued a royal blue.  The leather throat is tooled with the image of a spread of bird feathers. The throat and the chape are both stained and antiqued in a light brown.