My first yataghan

[Emanuel]

I finally got a yataghan, a turkish one in this case and at a great price. It lost one side of the bolster but otherwise in in good condition. The blade needs cleaning, but I'm afraid to damade the inlay. Will wd-40 and lemon juice have adverse effects on it?
I'm amazed by how thin the blade is, just 5mm. How thick do these get? If the yataghan is the root of the Kabyle flyssa I wonder why blade thickneses are so different. My small flyssa is a full cm thick at the base and spine.

Flavio has asked on another thread about whether the inlay on his yat might be gold. In my case I think it is brass as there's some bluing and tarnish. I will try to make out the inscriptions on the blade. Can anybody read them?

Thanks,
Emanuel

[Emanuel]

Here is an edited pic of the inscription, I can make out _861 at the lower right and kaf__ in the cartouce on the left.

[Flavio]

Hello Emanuel,

my yat is not tarnished, but could be well cleaned... even if I've got the sword more than a year ago and never the inlaid turned tarnished.

Thank you
Flavio

[VANDOO]

A NICE START ON YATAGAN , UNFORTUNATE A PIECE IS MISSING BUT NOT UNCOMMON ON OLD ONES WHO HAVE SEEN SOME USE. THE GRIPS LOOK TO BE IN GOOD SHAPE AND THE BLADE IS NOT BAD SHOWING NO ACTIVE RUST AND NOT BEING OVER CLEANED. PERHAPS A GOOD WIPE DOWN WITH WD-40 ON A RAG AND A BIT OF MINERAL OIL ON THE HANDLE GRIPS WILL DO. A NICE DESIGN INLAYED INTO THE BLADE ,IS THERE A CARTOUCHE OR MAKERS MARK PRESENT?
I IMAGINE YOU COULD HAVE THE MISSING PART DUPLICATED IF YOU WERE NEAR THE MIDDLE EAST WHERE SUCH WORK IS STILL DONE LARGELY IN THE OLD FASHONED WAY. EASY TO FIND THOSE WHO DO SUCH WORK AS YOU JUST FOLLOW THE SOUND OF ALL THE HAMMERING OF METAL IN THE BAZZAR. THOSE MAKING THE LARGE METAL TRAYS AND VASE AND SUCH CAN LIKELY MAKE A PIECE FOR YOU OR DIRECT YOU TO THOSE WHO CAN.

[Emanuel]

Thank you both. Being in Toronto I am too far away from any traditional craftsman, but I figure I could take a jewellery-making course in time and eventually make a replacement myself. The cartouce or mark is visible on the last pic, on the left.

Emanuel

[Norman McCormick]

Hi Manolo,
Blade thickness on mine is 6mm, I've only got the one so can't give you much of a comparison re blade thicknesses. Some of the tarnish looks kind of greenish in your photos so I guess brass rather than gold.
Regards,
Norman.

[kai]

Hello Emanuel,

Will wd-40 and lemon juice have adverse effects on it?

Any oil/wax suitable to protect blades should be fine.

Be careful with acids though, since removing rust also affects those crevices and can lead to loss of inlay; prolonged soaking can also eat away inlaid metal (except gold) which makes matters worse.

I'd take pains to polish the blade by hand as good as possible (also be gentle on the inlay since this is softer than steel) and do a quick etch with vinegar if you wish to have a look at the steel grain. Make sure to heat the blade thoroughly after etching to remove all traces of vinegar (no need to neutralize since acetic acid evaporates easily).

Regards,
Kai

[TVV]

Nice acquisition Manolo. I would call this yataghan Balkan, rather than Turkish, just to be more specific on its geographic origin (after all, almost all yatghans are Turkish). I read the year to be 1216, which would translate to 1801-1802 - makes sense. Some of these have twistcore damascus blades, and all have an inserted edge, so polishing and etching as suggested by kai might be worth it.

[Emanuel]

Thanks for the info Kai! And thanks for showing your yat Norman. The tarnish was actually bluish red. I've used a mild brass polishing creme and everything turned white. It appears that even the yellow was in fact tarnish and the wire is in fact white and therefore silver. The inscription is much clearer now and on the far right I can read 1219 = 1805 in the Gregorian calendar. I can't make out the rest, besides an 861 to the left of the date.

I've put up a better pic of the inlay if anyone can help with the translation I would be grateful.

Regards,
Emanuel

[Zifir]

I think the date is 1216 not 1219.

The inscription is:

amel-i Ahmed sahib Mustafa

[Emanuel]

Hi Teodor, I hadn't seen your post for some reason. Both you and Zifir see 1216, so are we looking in the same place? The last four characters on the bottom right? I read the last one as a 9, 6 is like our 7 no?
Anyway, I'll defer to you both.

Thanks Zifir for the inscription. Manouchehr read the same on SFI and translated as "the work of Ahmed, the owner Mustafa".

As for the yataghan being Balkan, I had a suspicion this might be so. For the longest time I associated this type of ears to specifically Turkish, then Balkan came up and I was confused

I will clean the blade thoroughly and etch it to see what's hidden. I'll update pics when done.

Thanks to you both, and best regards,
Emanuel

- attached is a pic from www.omniglot.com and is what I based my reading on, is it correct?

[Emanuel]

After more cleaning and polishing, it turns out the fittings are all silver. It's too bad the bolster was broken like that.

[TVV]

Manolo,

I think I and Zifir might have been looking at the date before the clean picture. After you posted the better picture, I am more inclined to think it is a 9 rather than a 6. Which unless tha date helps you attribute the piece to a historical figure or an event, is not so important, and it is in all cases a nice early 19th century piece.

Regards,

Teodor

[Emanuel]

Hi Teodor,

The precise date is indeed not that important. I was just getting confused about Arabic numerals and wanted to be sure I was using the correct reference.

All the best,
Emanuel