Recently made Omani Kattara / Saif

[A.alnakkas]

Originally Posted by David

As for the other question at hand, i admittedly know very little about these swords, but to my untrained eye i cannot see how the hilts on these so-called "dance swords" would be at all practical in a battle situation. Not only is there no cross piece to protect the hand, but also no pommel of any substance to keep the blade from slipping out of the hand in the heat of battle.

The sword is also used for the Raz'ha which contains a sort of combat practice. Am sure losing grip while doing Raz'ha is equally embarrasing (but less lethal then losing grip in battle..) so the hilt is not really an issue, that also considering that there are other examples of swords with no guard or pommel.

Here is the Raz'ha: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpfIp_TR_PQ for more context.