Tawdry Tulwar.

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hi Norman,

Nice work you are doing, and I am glad to see, that you go the slow way, and don’t start out with an acid bath. On one of my blades someone had kept himself busy sharpening the edge with a file. A fact I did not enjoy much, as I knew how long time it would take to remove the marks by hand. Instead I used Dremel finishing abrasive buffs #511, and with a good result I may add, but you should only work on a small area, to see if it also works for you.

Before you go on reading, you should remember, that these hilts have been used over a very big area, so even if you see a tulwar with the same blade and hilt, with a provenience tying it to a specific place, yours could come from a different place.

I too have a tulwar with the marks you show. The hilt on mine is slimmer, decorated, and with a hand guard. On each side of the blade is the same stamp as on yours, but on mine there are also four suns, and on the ricasso a round stamp with the name Ibrahim. On the back of the blade there is a stamp with a letter and a number, the letter is K/KA/KAH and the number 76.

Jens