I said Photos would follow. This is a quick photo of four of my daggers. Left to right they are: WW-II J. Clark and Sons second pattern, the new HDG Hydra, a Parkinson/Decker Chisel-tip first pattern, Channing Watson's HN-9 Havocworx dagger. They are illustrated with their corresponding sheaths. Note that the WW-II F/S blade has been retipped during its life due to breakage. The sheath is obviouly worn and tired but intact (except the retaining strap is missing). The HDG sheath is compact with a stout retaining strap. Its method of mounting it on gear or a belt is lackluster. The sheath for the chisel-tip is beautiful, high-quality leather. Retention is by friction in the sheath. Carry is limited to straight forward belt mounting. The Watson dagger has a perfectly fitted, minimalist kydex sheath with a rubber belt loop. It is designed for IWB discreet carry (Inside the waistband). Knife retention is by molded friction fit. Watson's dagger blade exhibits the same grind concept as the Hydra (of being six sided to the very tip) for added rigidity. 

The least rugged dagger of the bunch, by far, is the Clark WW-II original. The least satisfactory sheath is the one from HDG. If I were going into combat and could take only one of these daggers, it would be the Channing Watson Havocworx dagger/sheath combo, without question. I think the Hydra and the Parkinson/Decker chisel-tip daggers are of equal functional value but neither sheath is as suitable for combat carry as the Watson sheath.

Well, shortly after the new year my highly anticipated Hydra arrived from Hamilton Daggers Glasgow. This is one of several joint ventures between Peter Parkinson of New Zealand and John Hamilton of Glasgow, Scotland. As many of you know I have been a fan of Peter’s work for many years. At last count I have twelve of Peter's F-S recreations. This includes three that are of my specific design. I am less familiar with Mr. Hamilton’s work but he has been providing some splendid traditional F-S daggers as well.
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The Hydra is one of their collaborative designs in a tactical series. These are knives based on tradition designs, tweaked a bit here and there to produce a better “mousetrap.” There are a number of knifemakers today attempting to do the same thing. The Hydra is the second in the line of three projected daggers. The first one was the Kraken and draws its inspiration from the Iconic Case V-42 FSSF Dagger. The Hydra has several quickly notable differences compared to a traditional P-2. As you are probably aware the Second Pattern (P-2) was originally produced with a carbon steel double-edged blade about 6 ¾ inches long. The blade thickness varied depending on the maker and forging/grinding process. The grip was finely checkered brass in the famous “bowling pin” configuration. It had a lozenge shaped mild steel guard.  Blade, guard and grip were held together by a steel top-nut which was peened in place. A high-quality leather sheath with a metal chape was provided. The sheath’s major flaw was the elastic retaining strap, which quickly stretched out or snapped. So how successful is this new iteration of a Second Pattern dagger? ​

The Hydra has a blade which is the same length but is visibly stouter! One of the weakness’ of the original P-2s was a thin cross section at the tip. This sometimes led to snapping or bending of the tip. The Hydra’s blade has a broad central flat that extends nearly to the tip. So, although it it a double-edged blade, for the majority of its length it is six sided in cross-section. This grind is similar one used on some rapiers centuries ago to increase stiffness.  On the ricasso there are a series of cross grooves on both sides of the blade. They extend about 7/8ths of an inch down the central flat. The blade is ceracoated™ flat black. I love the blade. The grip is some sort of ferrous (magnetic) material, steel I presume. The grip is Ceracoated™ a flat earth color. The grip maintains the graceful profile and length of the P-2s but is a larger diameter, with a larger pommel, similar to the “Fatman” of WW-II.  The most obvious difference is the checkering is replaced by eight evenly spaced o-rings set into grooves.  This provides one of the most user friendly grips of any F-S ever made. Bare hands or gloved, wet or dry, I guarantee your hand will not slip. The steel guard has been widened a little to work with gloved hands but it is still proportionally pleasing.

I think the knife design is a clear success. There are only two things that I would change on the knife. First, I would eliminate the grooves on the ricasso as unnecessary work for little to no gain in function. Secondly, and I think more importantly, I would change the grip material from steel to aluminum to reduce weight and also improve the balance. The knife is very grip heavy for a dagger of its size.  Spec-Ops people are very conscious of every ounce of weight they have to carry. Now, my grandmother always said, if you cannot say something nice don’t say anything at all. I’m going to break that rule a little bit. And I have already expressed my opinion on this to the makers. I would replace the sheath with something better. This is a very expensive dagger, and the sheath is not up to standard. I have already ordered a replacement sheath for my Hydra. That’s all I am going to say about it.

I have very strong opinions on fighting knives and some might question by what authority or legitimacy. I have been collecting fighting knives for over 60 years. Yes, that’s right, more than sixty years. My collection is broad and numbers over 500 examples. I have trained for many of those 60 years in the use of fighting knives and swords. In addition, I have designed several fighting knives myself. I also have an extensive library containing almost every book in print on knife fighting, and, I have written two books on how to use edged weapons. So I can claim some sort of familiarity with the subject. In conclusion, I am very excited about the Hydra dagger and I hope the makers will come up with a better solution on a sheath.


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