Durba or Kesar?

raghorn

raghorn

Joined
Feb 23, 2002
Messages
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About a month ago I picked up a beautiful horn handled Chitlangi with the Nepalese flag kami mark. It was not a PGA, it just happened to be the one Uncle had available at the time I emailed him to request one.

The flag marking is oriented such that it is upright when the blade is held edge-down (point on left, handle on right). The lines are very thin and graceful, almost as though they were sketched on with a pencil. Based upon recent forum discussions and FAQ info, I assumed this was the mark of Kesar.

The other day my Kesar M43 arrived. Major difference in the mark, though. On this blade, the flag is oriented to be upright when the knife is viewed handle down, point up (edge facing left). Also, the engraving lines are much deeper and broader, almost resembling a die strike, or series of connected die strikes.

Is this another one of those mysterious things based on how the kami (in this case Kesar) feels that day or is this the difference between a Durba and a Kesar mark?

If they are from different kamis, might the chitlangi be a Durba?
 
The Durbas I've seen were marked as your Chitlangi - flag upright, edge down, with the mark very cleanly executed. If youhave the old-style scabbard, it is most probably a Durba. On a _known_ Kesar, the flag is upright when held point-up.
 
I've had three recent Kesar blades attributed to Kesar. Each one had different flag-marks ... Long staff or short staff, staff parallel or perpendicular to blade, flags Isosceles or right triangles, flags pointing right or left.

Little "signature" potential, IMO. Almost like Kesar was trying all variations to see what he liked best. Or found it inconceivable that it made any difference. I've no Durbas, he may have been consistent with the marks, but Kesar sure isn't.
 
Rob, the mark on your Kobra looks just like the one on my Kesar M43 (same "handwriting" if that makes any sense), except for the orientation.

Walosi, I'm not sure what an "old style" scabbard looks like, but the one on the Chitlangi is very different from all my other scabbards. This one has a very thick, triangular cross section on the outer wood panel, which gives it an additional "edge" running down the center on the scabbard's outer side. Combined with the carved horn handle, it makes for a very attractive package.

So perhaps Uncle just happened to have a leftover Durba standing by at the very moment that I decided I needed to scratch my Chitlangi itch.

It's kismet. Every khuk eventually manages to find the right home.

:D
 
The "old style" scabbards are generally of thinner leather, and are tooled. The village sarki now doing the scabbards uses a thicker, better grade of leather. Some are beginning to come in with tooling, but not many so far. The triangular cross-section, or ridge, is peculiar to the Chitlangi scabbard, and really sets it apart,IMO.

I hadn't seen Rob's close-up of the flag mark when I posted. His appears to be chisel lines. The marks on my known Durbas are all "dot engraved", very small and very carefully done.
 
All kidding aside, lets ask Jim for his input on this one. He probably has the largest stockpile of known Durba's in existence.
 
...as long as I don't have to send them both to The Cave for "closer examination." :(

;)
 
The kamis generally don't mark their blades. This is done by Bhimsen when he's around with nothing better to do or an apprentice who often botches the job. This is why you see variations of the same mark.

Sig method will be better if they ever get around to it.
 
Raghorn,
Will ck. tonight,kinda tied up rt. now!Any prticular type of K! I can usually tell a Durba rt. away!
jim:D
 
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