Wootz blade

[Mel H]

A couple of photo's of a recent acquisition, A Kard / Choora style of knife, The blade has a pronounced fern like pattern, I'd be pleased to learn more about it.

[Rick]

From the look of it I'm afraid that is an etched pattern rather than wootz, imo.

[Mel H]

Originally Posted by Rick

From the look of it I'm afraid that is an etched pattern rather than wootz, imo.

The possibility had crossed my mind, it's not the sort of thing that I normally buy, but I picked it up in a local fleamarket because it looked to be better quality than most of these things that I see.

[RSWORD]

Rick is correct that the pattern you see has been produced through acid etching. However, the smith went to some lengths to mimick wootz. The background color is dark behind the etched pattern and then the edge has been burnished bright. Like you see on some wootz blades. The blade has a nice shape and fullering and the enamel (?) work on the bolster is a nice touch.

[CharlesS]

It is interesting that sometimes these faux wootz patterns were more time consuming and labor intensive than the production of actual wootz. But, that said, considering the times, they were probably still much cheaper.

Some faux wootz, likely like the example here, were produced after the heyday of true wootz production and were an attempt to mimic the quality of the past.

This style of dagger, made in India, were generally made for the British "den market" and the lure of exotic eastern weapons in the late 19th century and early 20th century. This example looks superior to many such daggers save the scabbard, which may be a replacement.

[Rick]

Agree totally w/you Charles.
Both scabbard and dagger are in excellent condition for their age.

[Rick]

Can you show us a better close up of the backstrap; is it inlayed?
The scales look like hardstone ; can you close up on one of them also ?

[Sancar]

I belive this might be a contemporary bıçak/bichaq/bichak made in Uzbekistan or Eastern Turkistan. But is is still a very well-crafted beautiful knife regardless of its age.

[Mel H]

Originally Posted by Rick

Can you show us a better close up of the backstrap; is it inlayed?
The scales look like hardstone ; can you close up on one of them also ?

The grip looks as though it may well be stone, the inlaid decoration is brass diamonds with red infill.

[mross]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

It is interesting that sometimes these faux wootz patterns were more time consuming and labor intensive than the production of actual wootz. But, that said, considering the times, they were probably still much cheaper.

Some faux wootz, likely like the example here, were produced after the heyday of true wootz production and were an attempt to mimic the quality of the past.

This style of dagger, made in India, were generally made for the British "den market" and the lure of exotic eastern weapons in the late 19th century and early 20th century. This example looks superior to many such daggers save the scabbard, which may be a replacement.

The skill set to make the fake stuff is much easier to acquire/learn than making real wootz. And as you pointed out a whole lot cheaper.