The medium Guardian Angel is our tenth Dalton of the Week.
I've always thought that the Guardian Angel, often called just
"Angel", is one of Mr. D's most elegant designs. Based
on the serial numbers (97xxxx), I think that they were made in
1997.
The dimensions are:
Overall length: 7 - 9/16" to 7 - 11/16"
Handle Length: 4 - 7/16"
Blade Length: 3 - 1/8" to 3 - 1/4"
Handle Thickness: 0.500" (excluding pocket clip)
Blade Thickness: 0.125
Beadblast, 2-tone, and full satin blade finishes were available.
There may have been some hi-polished blades, but I don't recall
ever seeing any. There were the standard drop point leaf shaped
blades without an upper swedge, and there were ones with an upper
swedge. Here is a picture of a Guardian Angel with a very
uncommon serrated full satin blade and without the swedge:
Here is a picture of a Guardian Angel with a beadblast blade and
with the swedge. The blades of the Guardian Angels were hand
ground, so you will see some minor variations in the swedge from
knife to knife.
I've seen aluminum handled Guardian Angels in gray, black, red,
and green. Here's one of the more desirable red ones.
This model was also available with green G10 handles, like this
one:
Here is one with heavy beadblast Titanium handles that does not
have the rubber inserts and a 2-tone blade:
Here is another Ti handled one that y'all may have seen in an
earlier post - The lower knife is a rainbow Ti Guardian Angel
that is Mrs. Dalton's dress knife. The upper knife is her EDC.
Here's another one that I will call the "enigma". Note
that the serial number is 1423 - not part of the usual 97xxxx
sequence. I can't explain that serial number.
The "Enigma" Angel is also different in that the back
of the handle is partially enclosed. With all my other Guardian
Angels, the handle slabs are held apart by the pivot and two
spacers. Here's a pic to show the difference:
I don't recall ever seeing any of these with a PROTO marking. If
anyone out there has seen one, please let us know. There is a
large Guardian Angel with a 10" overall length. We'll cover
that one in an upcoming post. There is also the Militia Guardian,
a July 2000 release, which is very similar to the medium Guardian
Angel.