Question about the manufacture of early nickel grip eagles...

[dzyner]

Hi all. Does anyone have period photos showing a plant worker hand tooling an early solid nickel grip eagle, or documentation related to the construction process of a typical early solid nickel grip eagle for SS, SA, etc daggers? Were these indeed hand tooled, or were they die struck (or a combination of both)? I'm trying to confirm how the manufacturing process worked with these. Were they partially die-struck, and partially hand tooled (e.g. the shallower details were die-struck while the deeper recesses (such as the Swastika arms) were hand tooled), or were they all die-struck, or all hand-tooled?

Thanks!
Dzyner

[Schlange]

Both.

Schlange

http://www.mojalbum.com/schlange88/albumi

[Frogprince]

From my past recollection of looking at them, the eagle-swastikas themselves were die struck (think of stamping coins) and the separate locking/folding tabs done by hand. FP

[dzyner]

Both.

Schlange

http://www.mojalbum.com/schlange88/albumi

Hi Schlange. The link you posted doesn't show any photos in the album.

[dzyner]

...the separate locking/folding tabs done by hand.

FP, by locking/folding tabs, do you mean the individual arms of the Swastika (see my image below) were cut out by hand?...

[Frogprince]

FP, by locking/folding tabs, do you mean the individual arms of the Swastika (see my image below) were cut out by hand?...

No, and it might have been better if I had said the 'prongs' on the back that hold the eagle in place in the grip as a separate step. With the (tool and) die makers being the ones that made the die sets that could be used until some point when they needed to be replaced with new ones. Regards, FP