A talismanic thai (?) knife ?
 

I got some pieces from a friend who left germany decades ago. He forwarded some pieces that have been storaged 20 years and he thought that will fit better to my collection. But I‘m more experienced in the indonesian area.

This knife has 34 cm total length and many inscriptions. Blade seems to be hard and with a thin edge.

Thanks for your help.

Best thomas

Thomas, your friend is a kind person. Yes, this is an older Thai talismanic knife. Definitely not the commonly found and recently made style for those who travel. The carved hilt may represent a monkey.

High status mead mor talisman knife, mid-20c. The animal is a stylized tiger. Probably made by or for a very high ranking Buddhist monk.

Many thanks

I was told, that the blade is possibly made with the use of leklai material.

Best Thomas

According to my sources, these Thai amulet knives were not forged from lek lai, they were forged from lek Numphee, steel can not be made from lek lai. It can not be forged into a blade because it is not really iron (Fe), but numphee can be used to make blades as it is a type of iron that can be made into high quality steel, there is a big difference.


Leknamphee


LekLai

My understanding is that leklai is magnetite which would make it an iron ore. How are lek lai and lek numphee meant to differ compositionally?