Middle Earth Ranger Forum

Hello all,
I received two new blades for camping back in August and really enjoying them. The designs are a bit unusual and raised more than a few eyebrows, lol. Do you think either of them would have a place in Tolkien's world? To me the smaller is a bit Elvish but I'm not sure about the bigger one. Just curious what you folks think!

I mean, I would argue that your own personal interpretation is nearly always valid. However, for my part at least, I would probably not use either of those for Tolkien/Ranger pursuits, because the shape, materials, and whole design in general just looks very very modern, from the complex, slightly spiky geometry of the blades, to the very prominent pierced full-tang construction, to the somewhat impressionistic angular texture on the grip scales of the large knife.
Ultimately, if you like them, and they’re functional, and you like using them, there’s nothing written in stone anywhere saying you shouldn’t use them - but I think to many folks they read a bit more sci-fi than mythological/fantasy flavored.

For something functional that would look very much at home in Middle-earth, I would probably recommend looking at reproduction knives from the Middle-ages, like the ones offered by Tod Cutler:https://todcutler.com/
He also makes more modern bushcraft knives if you want something more in that vein - and even those have a nice, simple, functional design that could probably fit in well with a Ranger kit.

Another good thing to look for might be 18th century trade knives. If you do a quick Google search for trade knives, you’ll find a ton of them for sale out there from different sources. My basic ranger knife is actually an 18th Century trade knife, and I really love it. Looks suitably rustic, while having a bit of style, and feeling very at home in Middle-earth.

Hope that helps!

Todd definitely makes some amazing blades, crossbows too! Thank you so much for the info and your take on the designs, exactly what I was asking for!

Thanks for replying Manv, I was dreading having to put my grumpy Eofor hat on for another review.

Regarding Tod's work, I've got a set of his cooking knives and they're fantastic, if a bit chonk. But sometimes one wants chonk. His "11th-14thC Low status Wood handled eating knife" TCP95 and "Simple Medieval eating knife 12th-14thC" TCP10 look to my eye as pretty easily pushed into near any northern Third Age Middle-earth culture with the right decoration. Certainly there are others that could work, depending on how late-medieval your mind's eye of Middle-earth goes. (And hobbits are their own anachronistic thing as always. )

If you want to train your eye for what period knives looked like, a good starting place is "Knives and Scabbards (Medieval Finds from Excavations in London)" - it's focused I think ~13th-14thc (a bit late-period for my mind's eye, your interpretation might be different) - but there are some earlier finds in there as well. Once upon a time I ran across a website that cataloged most of those finds so you could see them without having to buy the book - I'll poke around a bit today and see if I can find it again.

Elleth wrote: ↑Tue Oct 04, 2022 11:02 am If you want to train your eye for what period knives looked like, a good starting place is "Knives and Scabbards (Medieval Finds from Excavations in London)" - it's focused I think ~13th-14thc (a bit late-period for my mind's eye, your interpretation might be different) - but there are some earlier finds in there as well. Once upon a time I ran across a website that cataloged most of those finds so you could see them without having to buy the book - I'll poke around a bit today and see if I can find it again.

I would love to take a look at that if you can find it, Elleth!!

The book is still available for a reasonable price but I have a pdf copy if you want a more in depth look before choosing to buy one.

Rockfarm wrote: ↑Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:27 pm To me the smaller is a bit Elvish but I'm not sure about the bigger one. Just curious what you folks think!

I've been off-line for a few days so I missed this, but I think I agree with your first thoughts, depending on your own personal interpretation you could probably get away with the smaller one, it has distinctively modern construction techniques but the blade shape it's self isn't so far fetched that it looks wrong straight away. However the larger blade looks to tactical/sci-fi to put me in mind of middle-earth

Thank you folks so much for the input!

Rockfarm wrote: ↑Fri Oct 07, 2022 7:41 am Thank you folks so much for the input!

your welcome

even if you don't use those for your Middle earth impression, they are cool looking blades, might I ask who the maker is???

Sure thing, they are from Origin Knives in the UK. The large knife is called the Woodsman and the smaller is the Shirley. Kevin Cuttingham is the bladesmith and does amazing work with all types of blades, I highly recommend him!

cool, thanks

The one with the teeth looks pretty modern. Maybe if you could grind the teeth off and hide the holes, but otherwise, it looks kinda tacticool. The bottom one looks like it could perhaps work as maybe an orc utility knife, if you want to go the captured weapon/tool route. Despite my sword, I really try to limit the amount of 'captured' items to as few as possible to get the look of a Westerling.

I must second the recommendation of Tod Cutler. He makes great blades that are tough and look period. I've batoned with my langseax and my bauernwehr and they just feel right in the hand. I would say your most important blade would be your large knife since you could use it for non-orc related tasks, so getting something that looks the part would be important. I may not always be able to carry my nameless sword, but I can typically carry a knife.