Indo persian ? Arabic curved 'working' knife

A. G. Maisey · 15th February 2007, 09:47 PM

I've looked at this knife a lot of times since its been posted.

The blade geometry makes it far from ideal as a blade designed to cut cleanly and deeply through flesh. The central spine has the effect of strengthening a blade at the expense of reducing its ability to cut cleanly and deeply, and to hold an edge; this is caused by the angle formed by the sides of the blade as they decline to the cutting edge.

Look at the other extreme of blade geometry in an old fashioned straight razor:- the blade is deeply hollow ground giving an exceptionally narrow angle to the blade sides as they decline to the cutting edge.

I've owned several Indian banks over the years, and handled many more. All that I have handled have been smallish, neat knives, and all had blade geometry that provided a decline to the cutting edge from the blade back. In other words, a blade that would take and hold a fine edge.

I have owned and handled a considerable number of lawi ayam of various designs, sizes and origins. They have ranged from a knife only about 2.5 inches long with a single edge, to serious daggers with two cutting edges and a length of about 9 inches. All have had very deeply curved blades.

The knife currently under discussion looks nothing like any bank I have ever seen, and does not resemble in the slightest degree a lawi ayam.

Having said that, I also must say that I do not have the vaguest idea what it might be. However, when we come across something that has not been illustrated somewhere it is quite possible that we may be looking at an individual piece that somebody has had made for a specific purpose. I have seen things such as this in Indonesia, also in Australia, and when I was doing custom knife work I accepted several orders for individual designs that in 100 years time will definitely cause somebody who encounters them to ask exactly what they were for.
The more I look at this knife, and always assuming that we are looking at its original form, the more I feel that we are looking at a tool. Possibly a market place tool where the weapon style handle would give a bit of pizzazz to the person using it. Something to cut candy? Something to cut ice? Something to cut melons?

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15th February 2007, 09:47 PM	#15
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,048	I've looked at this knife a lot of times since its been posted. The blade geometry makes it far from ideal as a blade designed to cut cleanly and deeply through flesh. The central spine has the effect of strengthening a blade at the expense of reducing its ability to cut cleanly and deeply, and to hold an edge; this is caused by the angle formed by the sides of the blade as they decline to the cutting edge. Look at the other extreme of blade geometry in an old fashioned straight razor:- the blade is deeply hollow ground giving an exceptionally narrow angle to the blade sides as they decline to the cutting edge. I've owned several Indian banks over the years, and handled many more. All that I have handled have been smallish, neat knives, and all had blade geometry that provided a decline to the cutting edge from the blade back. In other words, a blade that would take and hold a fine edge. I have owned and handled a considerable number of lawi ayam of various designs, sizes and origins. They have ranged from a knife only about 2.5 inches long with a single edge, to serious daggers with two cutting edges and a length of about 9 inches. All have had very deeply curved blades. The knife currently under discussion looks nothing like any bank I have ever seen, and does not resemble in the slightest degree a lawi ayam. Having said that, I also must say that I do not have the vaguest idea what it might be. However, when we come across something that has not been illustrated somewhere it is quite possible that we may be looking at an individual piece that somebody has had made for a specific purpose. I have seen things such as this in Indonesia, also in Australia, and when I was doing custom knife work I accepted several orders for individual designs that in 100 years time will definitely cause somebody who encounters them to ask exactly what they were for. The more I look at this knife, and always assuming that we are looking at its original form, the more I feel that we are looking at a tool. Possibly a market place tool where the weapon style handle would give a bit of pizzazz to the person using it. Something to cut candy? Something to cut ice? Something to cut melons?