Another big asian knife

[blue lander]

I got this one off Ebay a few weeks ago, it's a "Pattimura" Golok from Indonesia

According to the seller's description, it's 1/4th inch thick spring steel, full tang, 13 1/4 inch blade, hand forged and hardened. It's got a convex edge and is super sharp. The blade is stamped "ZELSA" and there's a sticker on the handle that says "ZELSA Steel Best Quality". The teeth on the back of the blade and by the handle are sharp too, although I don't know what purpose they're supposed to serve. The finish is definitely "villager" quality, there's some pits and file marks on the blade, and the wooden handle has some chips and blemishes too. The handle is rather small, I have small hands and it just barely fits me. Here it is in its wood sheath.

It fits very snugly, but if you push that "knob" on the sheath by the handle with your thumb, it comes out fairly easily.

The most interesting thing about the blade is how it's tapered. It tapers towards the end, but then flares out again. I guess this is to add some weight to the edge of the blade, but it doesn't feel unbalanced.

This thing cuts into just about anything DEEP, deeper than anything I own. It'd be great for cutting vines or small/medium branches, but on larger pieces of wood it gets stuck constantly. It doesn't chip out chunks wood like a kukri or hatchet.

 

[Jens Schuetz]

Zelda steel!
I've no clue what the hooks could be for. Definitely looks nice.
The release button is a cool feature too.

Is the knife in the second picture properly in the sheath or is it upside down? Just looking at the handle the belly of the knife should be facing up but the belly of the sheath is pointing down.
The curve isn't so big, so maybe both ways work or the sheath is bend the other way but the camera had a wide angle lens and is messing with my eyes.

The blade is nice and for sure nicer than what I just checked they cost at ebay. I would have guessed much more!

 

[blue lander]

The knife can fit both ways into the sheeth, but if you put it in upside down, it just slides in and out with no retension whatsoever.

I ordered a second, smaller knife from the same guy, but he was out of stock. So he sent me this instead:

The blade is stamped "HEND Knife Hand Made". It's a stick tang, but it's peened to the end of the handle like a kukri. I don't really like this one. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just sort of tacky looking.

 

[kronckew]

hi blue lander,

the blade notches appear to be purely decorative. most goloks don't have them. it does appear to be upside down in the 2nd picture. the 'hook' on the scabbard is used to clip onto a belt sash (scabbard INSIDE the sash, hook on outside. these are usually partial stub tangs, possibly with one pin. a full exposed tang with more is unusual. cheaper 'villager' ones have cast on poly handles and are usually unpolished. many are carried on a cord 'baldric' - tied under the scabbard hook & looped over the shoulder - in lieu of a sash.

the second knife is a generic 'hunting knife' that could have come from anywhere. not very ethnic. the decorations, if engraved rather than stamped might be nice. these however, especially with a generic leather sheath do not appeal to me.

 

[blue lander]

Thanks for the info, I guess I've been putting it in backwards all this time. I'll probably continue to do so, since right side up the sheath has no retension whatsoever, the blade slides freely out.

The decorations look stamped to me.

The decorations are starting to form a little patina once I wiped all the oil off, which makes it look a bit nicer. even though it's touristy looking, it's a really solid knife. 1/4th inch thick spring steel and fairly sharp. Even the false edge on the back is sharpened, which makes me worried this thing could legally be considered a dagger in some jurisdictions. Here's a picture of the knife I had bought from him that was out of stock, a "Badik Jepit"

The curve of both blades are somewhat similar.

 

[kronckew]

i've been known to glue a thin strip of leather around the throat of a loose wood scabbard to aid retention & stop the knife from flopping about.

the 'badik jeput' i like a lot. a pleasant shape.

sadly ebay won't let anyone in the UK buy a knife, even tho it's not illegal. we can sell to someone outside the UK tho. used to find a lot of nice things there.

the decorations on the bowie-ish knife are acid etched. again the notches on the spine are decorative. a sharp false edge will indeed qualify it as a 'dagger' in some areas. chicago comes to mind. nothing really wrong with it, to me it looks like the grip, pommel & guard are for another knife. it's like wearing a red spotted shirt with green striped trousers.

 

[blue lander]

Exactly, the handle is what ruins the "flow" of that knife. It's a little too barrel shaped. It's quite comfortable to hold, though. I whittled up some tent pegs with it and it did fine. The choil is just slightly too small for an "american" sized index finger. My finger fits, but it pinches a little. If I ever intended to use it on a regular basis I'd enlarge it a little. I told the seller I bought this from that if he ever gets that badik jepit back in stock to let me know, but he never responded.

This guy sells a ton of stuff on ebay, but most look like wall hangers. Some of the descriptions say "Attention ! : This knife categorize as a Cheap knives and not made by my workshop, Not Recommended for Heavy use." I assume ones without that warning must be okay for heavy use, but I wouldn't risk it.