Acehnese Sikin

[kronckew]

hi y'all, thought i'd share this one with you. it decided it wanted to come live with me.

traditional acehnese sikin pedang,

overall view

grip/scabbard throat

in-hand view, noviar's (see below) hand, not mine, yet.

made by a village blacksmith in northern aceh province, indonesia, sold by a dealer just west of jakarta who is supporting the knifesmiths of the area which was devastated in the 2005 tsunami, as well as smiths in java.

Item Description:
Condition : New
Weight : +/- 800 gram
Material : Handle & Sheath = Buffalo Horn, Mentru Wood
Blade = Spring Steel
Overall Length : +/- 29" / 83 cm
Blade Length : +/- 21.5" / 54 cm
Handle Length : +/- 7.25" / 18.5 cm

- It’s a new piece with wooden sheath, satin finish, sharp edge, and fully functional.
- The sheath is made of Mentru Wood, with simple ornament and stripes. Naga relief carving was added to the sheath near handle.
- The handle is made of solid black water buffalo horn.
- The handle bolster is made of carbon steel. This bolster has a flaw, i.e. a deep split of forging.
- This sikin is made by a native Acehnese blacksmith in North Aceh.

more pics when it arrives.

the seller, noviar at maranggi knives is a computer programmer/systems developer & practices silat as well as selling these knives and swords...his email bill message started off with 'thanks for trusting me'. thanks for selling, noviar! nice to see that these are still being made by traditional craftsman.

[asomotif]

And thanks for making them straight and not curved.

Nice piece by the way.

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by asomotif

And thanks for making them straight and not curved.

Nice piece by the way.

yes, straight swords over 50cm. are benign and not dangerous, and can be imported into the UK for now - they apparently will become dangerous in the fall, while curved ones are dangerous if they are not 100 yrs. old. and cannot be sold, imported, or loaned, unless they were made in japan, prior to 1954 or made by traditional cheap mass production techniques. they figure this will save at least one political career, and possibly even keep a tatami mat from getting badly damaged, so it's worth taking away our rights.

[kronckew]

well it arrived yesterday, he sent it EMS as a 'gift' tho i only paid for std. mail.

the wood scabbard is carved all over with a fine set of parallel lines, with decorative panels every 6 in. the throat protrusion and the area just above the polished black horn chape are also decoratively carved. the back only has the parallel lines except for a decorative band around the throat which goes right around.

the grip is polished horn, there are three inlaid white circles on either side which may cover rivets thru the tang. the sides of the grip are rippled-like smooth finger grooves, highly polished. the open 'mouth of the alligator' has been left fairly rough inside, not polished and showing sanding grooves tho it feels smooth to the touch.

there are two holes, one that appear to have been a void in the horn, the other looks like a slot for the tang, its filled with what appears to be sumatran cutlers cement, what some of us would call 'laha'. i'll probably fill them level with plastic steel & polish them a bit more.

the end of the horn next to the bolster is carved somewhat crudely with checkering which is also over the 1st set of white inlays. the octagonal scalloped bolster has a small forging flaw on one side, apparent in the photo below.

the 54cm. (21.25in.) blade itself is well balanced, feels good in the hand, starts out with a flat spine and changes to a V spine after about 76mm. (3 in.), blade is distally tapered, 5mm at guard, 3mm at the tip end of the fuller, 32mm wide blade, has a forged fuller either side almost to the tip, and has a steel guard disk slightly smaller in dia. than the scalloped end of the bolster, this appears to have been formed with or welded to the blade, then machined or filed flat (hopefully added before the final heat treatments). about 3mm (1/8 in.) sticks out ahead of the bolster, the rest appears to taper into and then under the bolster scallops for an unknown distance, tho the indications are it's at least 3/8" thick...

there is a stamp on the blade spine that looks like 'LO G' and the remains of a 4th letter which may be an N, H or M in between. i'll have to ask the vendor.

blade is wickedly sharp, convex edged.

now the pics.





the dark 'stain' on the blade just under the sundial's gnomen is actually the reflection of my head.

[Gonzalo G]

Originally Posted by kronckew

there are two holes, one that appear to have been a void in the horn, the other looks like a slot for the tang, its filled with what appears to be sumatran cutlers cement, what some of us would call 'laha'. i'll probably fill them level with plastic steel & polish them a bit more.

the 54cm. (21.25in.) blade itself is well balanced, feels good in the hand, starts out with a flat spine and changes to a V spine after about 76mm. (3 in.), blade is distally tapered, 5mm at guard, 3mm at the tip end of the fuller, 32mm wide blade, has a forged fuller either side almost to the tip, and has a steel guard disk slightly smaller in dia. than the scalloped end of the bolster, this appears to have been formed with or welded to the blade, then machined or filed flat (hopefully added before the final heat treatments). about 3mm (1/8 in.) sticks out ahead of the bolster, the rest appears to taper into and then under the bolster scallops for an unknown distance, tho the indications are it's at least 3/8" thick...

Kronckew, it is a nice descprition I would love to read in every sword or knife thread, including your mention to weights. It is the better way to understand what are we talking about, as the classification and photos are not enough to have a good knowledge of the pieces shown. Please, when you talk about laha, do you mean the same black natural glue used in India and Nepal? I find very interesting the form of the spine, because I don´t find in this moment a good reason to change it form flat to a "V", I suppose an inverted one. Do you know if this is a constant in this kind of weapons, old and new? Some kind of decoration, perhaps? What I don´t understand is, why do you think that the welding of the bolster to the blade after the thermal treatments is better than before them? I mean, if the welding is made by forge, it has to be done before. If the welding is made with soft weld, it would be of not use to make it before hardening, as it would fail under the heat, but if the soft weld is made after the thermal treatment with very soft materials and with due care, maybe the heat would not affect the previous hardening. Is this it what do you meant, or I understood wrongly? Thank you for your attention.
My regards

Gonzalo

[kronckew]

if it was forge welded together at the same time the blade was made, it is essentially 'integral' to the blade. that would be the best. silver soldering or other low temp. soldering would also be OK.

i have heard of some less particular 'smiths' electrically welding tangs, or extensions or even wood screws to blades afterwards, which would possibly ruin any heat treatment, and weaken the join. it at least would present a discontinuity in the chemical composition of the metal where the welding rod metal was deposited...

i've also seen welded steel ships that had had great care and inspection during construction crack under stress along the weld joints.

i do not see any signs that any modern welding has taken place on this blade tho. it appears to have been entirely hand forged. final finishing probably had an assist from power tools tho, which is also OK, otherwise it would cost a lot more..

and, yes, laha to me is himalayan epoxy tree resin, dung, brick dust, and other admixtures the kami's add to the recipe.

the inverted 'v' shape starts towards the tip from the stamped lettering forward, possibly to lighten the blade and improve the balance, it's also a bit more decorative. from above the stamped letters back to the guard it is flat. interestingly, the blade thickness swells (increases) by an additional 4mm. over about the last 4mm. forming a shoulder that the guard sets on. this joint then appears to have been hand filed and finished after welding. i see a similar flat spine transition to round or inverted V on some of my Dha's tho on those the flat extends for almost a third of the blade and is decorated with inlays.