krachay national knife
 

hi here is some pictures of a karachay nationl knife,,
a shop owner form nalchick whanted us to make soem copies of it,,
, this ones in damascus and the makers mark stamped on the blade is a wolf,, dont know who the maker is ,, maybe a small smith,,
the shath is wood and is open on one side , like on a tibetian knife or sword, or on the knives from taiwan ,
on the back of the sheath where it is stiched the area is covered with polish paste,, so as to dress the knife when the edge becomes a little dull, or after crude sharpening,,

Hello auajulius. Do you have pictures of older versions of these knives with scabbards ? How does the knife fit in the scabbard? I would be very keen to see some as I think I might have one.

send post a foto of it or email it to me and ill see if it is,

ok , ill look for some older ones , this isnt that old, about 10 or 15 years,,

ok how the sheath works,,
well its cutt out on one side in the form of the knife ,, and the knife goes almost oup to the pommel,,
, ive seen an older one and generaly the leather of the sheath cover is very thick, buffalo or thick bull skin , and hard,,
on the newer ones the leather isnt so thick,, the wooden part is like a boat with the end cutt out,, and fitts the shape of the knife
if you want ill try to take some fotos this week as we are making a whole heap for for a karachay shop...

ill find out the history of the knife sheath,,

I got this knife in a swap from a fellow member. I like it a lot. I believe it has been discussed before and that its origin is still in question, the consensus I think was Nepal/Afghanistan? Seeing this karachay national knife has got me thinking. There are some strong similarities. The handle appears to be made of marine ivory? possibly from the Black Sea? your opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Tim.

hmmm ill look for you , the knife looks a little more as afghansitan cenral asia in its look ,, but ive never seen the shape before,
what is the sharpening like? the same angle on both sides?? or flat on one and angled on the other,, ??
the lack of a groove on one side or non symetrical blade grinding is common amongst caucascian knives......
ill make a copy of the foto and show it around and see what i can find out for you ,
is there an insert in the sheath?? or is it just leather thats hardened,,
is the guard a solid part of the knife?? or attached by rivets?

The guard parts of the knife are not riveted, they appear to be braised to the blade. The blade has been sharpened equally on both sides. The scabbard is wood covered in fine leather.

I like to use the word scabbard rather than sheath. A sheath is something quite different :o .

Hey Tim, it's a very nice knife!!! Congrats :)

hi,, ok all the folks ive talked to are shure its not form the caucasus,, also not from central asia ,, well not north centralasia..
maybe from kashmir o onr of the tibetian ethnic groups or around afghanistan , the shape looks like knifes form burma and the area , but the mars would say further east, the grooves look somehting and the indian work ,the leather and style dosnt look indian, as they re almost always stuch into the belt but this has a point for a hanger,, south ans se asian knives are never hung,,
so this makes me think kashmir or afghanistan or tajikistan these areas,, also the dot markings seem to be popular in this area,, the tajik knives are hung,, , as to kashmir,,, dont know te locals knives, but i would thin something like this,, ?? ,, but its no anything from the caucasus,,
interesting knife,, some place in north pakistan north westindia and east afghanistan..

Thanks very much. The origin is still open for some debate. I suppose that marine ivory could be traded well into land locked areas. One day another will turn up.