OK, first - and this is very important - there are no rules on a seax. These knives varied from maker to maker about as much as a Bowie knife did/does.
A seax ( pronounced "Sacks" or "sax" - like the shopping store) is just a large knife. The word is Old English for "knife" or "dagger". They ranged from small knives used to fix diner up to larger ones used for harvesting crops, bushcraft, and fighting. They were always simple and utilitarian.
The modern Scottish dirk was an evolution from the Anglo-Saxon seax, which was used in most of northern Europe and even Scandinavia. It is mostly associated with Germany, France, and the British Isles.
If he wants a Scottish twist, you can use a beefy stag crown for the handle and set a round stone in the butt. If you want to file work the straight part of the spine, that also fits the Scottish look. A simple ferrule type collar is used, not a guard.
Other handle choices are a wrapped leather strip ( like a sword), braided leather strips, or a carved dark wood ( bog oak or African Blackwood) in a dirk handle braid look.
They can have collars/ferrules and butt caps of steel or copper ( I like hammered copper that is patinated in Livers of sulfur to a silvery black that looks like shakudo.).
Most had hidden tangs, but a full tang is also OK. Most have no ricasso, and have the bevel go straight back into the handle.
Some had fullers, most shorter blades did not.
The basic build for a broken back seax is to decide how long you want the blade, how much angle the drop to the tip is to be, and how much wider the blade will be at the break than the handle.
These were very simple knives in most cases. While I made the "Drachensrucken" ( dragon's back) langseax fancy, most seax are plain mid-carbon steel and plain backed with plain handles. Historically, they often had very plain "butcher knife" handles.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...tting-some-shop-time-in-lately-Pictures-added (post #14 shows some photos)
I would suggest a:
8-10" blade edge with the break to the back 3-4" long.
I would go for 1.25" wide at the handle and 1.75" wide at the break.
Use 3/16" steel and do a FFG.
You can have a ricasso or not.
Simple twist or random damascus steel makes a great dress seax/dirk for Scottish wear at Highland games and dress functions.
The spine can be rounded from handle to break (or fileworked), and then swedged at 45° down the break.
Simplest way to make one is do all the shaping steps without the "break" ( drop to the tip). Once you like the widening toward the tip shape, draw in the break and then start grinding it down to the tip.
