Big Drama for Kurdish khanjar

[Kubur]

Dear All,

I need your help!
If you remember two previous posts about Kurdish jambiya.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=20570
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=20572
I wrote that I can see different groups in the so-called Kurdish daggers:
Turkish-Ottoman, Syrian-Iraki and the Iranian-Persian...
I had an Iranian one and I found a Turkish/ Ottoman Kurdish dagger.
The problem is that I received it broken!!!
It's the reason why I entitled my post "drama"

What do you recommend to fix the tang into the hilt?
And which kind of filling to use to fil the cracks in the horn grip?
At least, it's interesting to see how this dagger was made!
As you can see the rivets or metal pins are not going through the blade.
And the tang is very short, and doesnt go all along the hilt...

Thank you for your help
Regards,
Kubur

[Kubur]

I forgot: a lot of Kurdish daggers are early 20th c.
This one is clearly mid or early 19th c.
See the scabbard and also the lovely ottoman blade...

[David R]

That is a nice blade, and a nice scabbard. I have no real advice on repairing the horn other than epoxy or super-glue. As for fixing the blade back in the hilt, it will have been glued in with a resin compound.... So do a search for cutlers resin or cutlers cement. When making it up use a glue pot (double boiler type) or melt the ingredients in the oven at a set temperature. I made the mistake of trying to do it on the hotplate and burned the mixture.

[harrywagner]

J.B. Weld makes a two-part epoxy that is simple to mix and use. I have used it many times in my shop to attach wood to metal. It should work fine for attaching the blade. One word of caution though - once set it never lets go. Never. They used to run a TV commercial here where you see a man use it to attach a heavy chain to a big truck block, the clock then fast forwards 24 hours, the engine is hoisted up and he stand directly underneath it.

A shame about that knife. Good luck with the repair!

[Sancar]

I suspect that this dagger's tang was broken before and a previous owner got this horn hilt made for it. That is probably the reason for the short tang and those decorative non-functional rivets. I don't know Kurdish daggers but in my experience, Turkish daggers almost always have full tangs and riveted for extra security even if they were also glued to the hilt with pitch/tar/cutler's resin.

[Kubur]

David & Harry, thanks for your kind words and advises. I'm very worried by the cracks and how to hide them. I would like to find some material appropriate for the black horn.
Sancar, I totally agree, I think it was an Ottoman - Turkish blade reused and / or sold in the Kurdish area (scabbard & hilt).
Best,
Kubur

[Shakethetrees]

I have had similar problems in the past, so ill tell you what I've done.

The first thing is to scrape away all resin or shellac inside the grip recess and from the tang. Get all surfaces really clean. Save whatever you scraped for later.

Repairing the horn grip is best done by fitting all bits together with the seams as invisible as possible. You may have to trim any excessive roughness in order to get a good fit. Be conservative!

Now, if you can get some horn that matches the color of the grip, file it into very fine powder. Set aside.

Get some quality epoxy. I see that JB Weld was recommended in an earlier posting. Get the two hour set, not the five minute set. There is less internal stress in the final product making a stronger bond.

Now comes the tricky part. Relieve the faces of each break so that when hey are reassembled there's a "V" notch that can be filled with epoxy without any seeping to the surface where it would be visible. It's best to reassemble the hilt and hold into position with tape. Get as perfect a fit as possible here. However good the pieces fit now determines the success of the job.

Fill the internal "V" notches with well mixed epoxy. Use toothpicks, trimmed sticks or whatever you can work up to get to every surface you need to coat.

Sometime it is advisable to do one side and let it cure letting gravity helpin the settling of the epoxy into place. Do his as many times as you need to to get all cracks stabilized.

OK. Now everything has been cured, remove the tape and use some acetone or lighter fluid to remove any tape residue. In theory at least, the grip should be together, tight, and having no visible epoxy, right? If so, mix a little more and use it as a coating over the inside of the tang cavity covering all previous repairs. This spreads any stress around evenly and helps with the long term stability of the repair.

Now to do something about the cracks on the surface. Get some CA cement with the lowest viscosity available, industrial grade if possible. Pile the filings of the horn gathered earlier on top of the cracks and press in as best possible. Drop the CA on the pile of filings and allow a thorough cure. You aubade to do this in several stages. Once everything is cured solid, carefully scrape or file excess CA/horn bits down toco form with the original surface. Go slowly, and use grades of files and sandpaper from course to medium to fine.

If you got horn to match the original you can get an imperceptible repair this way.

Get some jewelers shellac and melt it in a double boiler, fill the cavity about two thirds full and warm the tang with whatever ca get it to reach about 250 degrees F. This should not affect the temper of the blade if you're careful. While the resin is liquid immediately place the blade into position. Get it right the first time! It's hard to back out at this stage! (I know this from experience!)

Now, you're almost finished. Chip or scrape excess resin away, leaving a little less than you need, maybe a quarter inch less. Melt the original resin and put it on top of the new resin. Doing this allows fresh resin to grip and hold the blade onto place,while the tired old resin is used as cover. When the old resin has cooled, carefully chip, scrape or otherwise distress its surface.

If you can follow these directions to the letter, (no shortcuts!) you can have an almost imperceptible repair that's strong and will last a long time.

[Sancar]

Kubur, if you can find, you might want to use black coloured epoxy to fill those cracks and fix the blade to the hilt. That way, it will be much easier to hide the restorations.

[Kubur]

Thank you very much for your very valuable help!!!
I hope that it will help others too.
I will try to follow your check list for a good take off.


Kubur

[Kubur]

I post this Ottoman dagger that has the same stars with a different metal than the blade.