The making of a kindjal

[delor]

Dear friends,

some monthes ago, I had been authorized by the forum administrators to show you a brand new yatagan I had made, and I had chance to have some very interesting discussions with some of you about various issues concerning my work versus genuine ancient arms.

Today, I'm starting a new commission, a set of two caucasian arms, a kindjal and a shashka. First I shall be making the kindjal, and only after that the shashka.
I would greatly appreciate if I could discuss this work with you, just as we did for the yatagan, but doing it before I start would help me to avoid mistakes and solve some technical issues.

The kindjal is going to be plain carbon steel - no damascus - with satin polishing. The blade will have one non centered fuller and a wood or horn handle. The scabbard will be made of wood covered with leather. Both handle and scabbard will have some silver fittings with chasing / chiseling work and niello (and the same fittings will later be made for the shashka too).

My first issue is about the blade itself. I have no idea whether it should be flexible or not, and I don't know precisely what its thickness should be, from its base to its tip (distal tape).
From photos, I think it should be quite thick - but how thick exactly I can't say - and very unflexible... but I'm not sure to be right !
Would you be so kind to help me answer these very first questions ?

Thanks a lot for your help and advices, and kind regards,

Bernard

[Atlantia]

Hi Bernard,

Pattern welded can look very nice

Here is my Kindjal for your consideration. I only have the one, but luckily for me it has a rather special blade (In fact apart from one on hermann-historica it's the best I've seen by a country mile).
The blade is not flexible. There is no distal taper until the parallel edged section ends, then it's quite a mild 'thinning'. The fullers mean that the widest part of the blade is just after the end of the fullers where the distal taper starts, which leading to a long diamond sction point is almost like an Indo-Persian armour piercing point. If you need any dimensions, want to discuss construction or POB etc, let me know.

my Kindjal

[delor]

Hi Atlantia,

thanks you for your reply.
I do agree that pattern welded looks very nice. I would have loved to make it with twisted patterns just as yours (a really beautiful one) , but unfortunately I could not convince the buyer...

About the thickness of the blade : my feeling is that is could be around 8mm (0.31 inches) Could you please tell me how thick is yours ?

The commission is based on a genuine model that has been shown on ebay. I don't think I might post here the photos from ebay, but I will post drawings in some times. Then, more questions will certainly come along as the work goes on.

Thanks a lot !

Bernard

[Atlantia]

Hi Bernard.

Weight: 573.8g. POB 11cm from hilt.
It's ok to post photo's from eBay as long as the item is sold not currently for sale (so not an active auction).

[delor]

Wow, perfect. Many thanks !
I've just seen that our genuine model is back online on ebay, so no photo right now... I'll post drawings instead !
Regards,
Bernard

[Atlantia]

Originally Posted by delor

Wow, perfect. Many thanks !
I've just seen that our genuine model is back online on ebay, so no photo right now... I'll post drawings instead !
Regards,
Bernard

Hi Bernard,

Glad to be of help. Look forward to seeing the drawings and hope to see the project progress.
What decisions have you made so far concerning construction?
ATB
Gene