its a knife, but what kind. BIG PICTURES ADDED!

[dank]

hey all, i found this detecting on a beach in the lower Puget Sound of Washington State. it was encrusted in a ball of rust the size of a 16oz pop bottle. i do know that there was a Lotta Spanish activity at this beach and was hope it was a old Spanish dagger. it does have a slot down one side of the blade, a friend told me this is so that when you stab something it can be pulled back out easier(breaks the suction)
its about 9 inches long and went threw 2 days of electrolysis to get it looking like that..
any help would be SO cool..
thanks Dank.

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

blood groove, fuller, cannelure...

never seen a fuller along the back of the blade before.

 

[dank]

here is the balance point on the knife. (would be farther back had the blade not been lightend by erosion
Ive looked really close and cant find any evidence of a means to attach a handle eather. no holes or rivet marks.
thanks for the preservation remark.
thanks for looking and commenting.

 

[Drache]

The "handle" might have been a simple cord or fabric handle. I've got a survival knife that if you take the paracord off the handle, it would look the exact same as the knife above (just a different blade).