The Omani Khanjar

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Silver goes almost black with age and patina ..This one is developing age nicely ...but dont worry as it quickly returns after cleaning ... Heres a Rhino Hilt on a well balanced Khanjar set up.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

At last a sensible alternative to Rhino and Giraffe .OLIVE WOOD..Discovered as a brilliant hilt for Khanjars; accepting dense silver pins and a beautiful polish ...In a report in The Oman Observer 27/01/2018 Ray Petersen stated;
Quote"The wood of the olive tree, known by its botanical name of Olea Europaea, has become the latest ‘must have’ men’s fashion accessory according to Nizwa silver craftsman, and businessman, Daoud Al Tiwani. Due to restricted supplies of ivory and horn, in particular, Tiwani was drawn to using olive wood in the manufacture of his business’s amazing traditional khanjars quite by accident. He was using some windfall olive wood for traditional canes when he discovered tone of the polishing processes offered an astounding depth of color and emphasized the grain, which is the natural pattern and direction of the wood, to an amazingly appealing degree."Unquote.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Hizam ...or... Hizak. The name of the Khanjar Belt.

Its a while since we looked at Khanjar belts and the predominant pattern on silver stitched on leather styles with rectangles filled with geometric little squares being illustrated below.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

A good short write up on Omani Khanjars and a few of its makers is at https://www.thenational.ae/arts-cult...-made-1.834999

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

I bring to the table what looks like Elephant Tusk. But it isn't.
This is a composite material like high density plastic...Here its
called Ameriki… A clue to where it is made...and a great
substitute for Elephant (Fils)

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

The real stuff looks like this..

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Zraff al Hindi IS THE OMANI Arabic for what is in fact African Giraffe. This material takes a lot of pins and when there were plentiful of that species running wild it was thought of as an excellent material.. It is endangered now thus should and is protected. There are superb hardwoods available instead such as Sandalwood and Olive which fit the bill for quality and accepting pins. Giraffe does not reflect light and has a rather dull reaction thus in my view another good reason to go for the alternatives.