kindjal - mechanical damascus ??

[Rivkin]

http://cgi.ebay.com/VERY-NICE-RUSSIA...QQcmdZViewItem

Just finished - the question is if its an etching or a real deal ? Do I see hamon in one of the pictures ?

[ariel]

I am sure it is etching. there are quite a few of those with etched fullers. Looks very pretty, though.

[ALEX]

Ariel is absolutely correct.
As the seller, who wrote: "fullers have etching".
I am not even sure it's etching, but it is definitely a mechanical pattern, manually placed on the surface of the blade, like you would decorate a cake from the manual tube to form a trim.

[galvano]

For example
Here my kindjal.
The center is engraved with etching.
But it is not Damas.

[Oriental-Arms]

It is correct that most of the Kindjals with pattern on the blade are etched (Inside the fullers). Few only has a real pattern welded core with plain high carbon steel around. It is difficult to tell from these photos but there is a small chance that the core here is pattern welded. My reasons

1: One can see in few places the Star shape found on twisted steel used in Kindjals with pattern welded core. It is not very common on etched blades

2: Etching was mainly done INSIDE the fullers. Here on the front of the blade I see some pattern BETWEEN the fullers. This also may indicate a pattern welded core.

The only way to really find out is either a far better photos with good high resolution close ups, or polish a very small area and see if the pattern returns after etching (NOT REALLY RECOMMENDED IF YOU ARE NOT EXPERIENCED)

[galvano]

I increased the photograph of ebay.
And I think that it is indeed about the welded Damas.
And twisted.
galvano