- Joined
- Feb 23, 1999
- Messages
- 4,855
Well, Red Flower and I have had a chance to look over one of the first two Tibetan-style knives to come out of BirGorkha. We got this one.
My first impression - A bonny Tibetan dirk.
Red Flower and I have encountered mass-manufactured Tibetan knives of this same general size and design all around the Tibetan plateau. Weve seen knives similar in design from Urumchi and Turpan in the Gobi desert to the north, in the land of Kham and in Szechwan province to the east, and in Nepal to the south. Generally the steel in these mass-produced knives is not of high quality, and they usually have brightly colored glass gemstones decorating the sheath. Below are some photos from one of Yangdu's earlier posts of such a mass-produced Tibetan knife.
Kami Sherpa gave us one such, of the style pictured above, and Red Flower keeps that one by her bedside. That one has dragon and phoenix decorations on the sheath, which Red Flower likes because they are Chinese symbols for the male and female elements.
Rajkumars effort stands out against the factory-produced examples like that above. The first thing I noticed is the quality of the steel. I had no intention of torture testing this knife, as it is obviously the accoutrement of a gentleman, but I couldnt resist giving it a little whack on a piece of firewood sitting by the stove. It neatly cleft off a thin piece of kindling. Then I wedged it in the wood and gave it a sideways torque. There is a small amount of flex appropriate for a thinner blade, but no indication I had pushed the knife past any kind of limit. Its plenty strong enough to handle any social event a gentleman traveler on horseback might encounter while traversing the bandit-ridden highlands of central Asia.
The handle is similar in appearance but much sturdier than the tourist-oriented knives of similar design. It is not quite as symmetrical as they are though, and at a couple of points a bit of what appears to be laha shows through the silver covering. To me this gives the knife a special character. I think the craftsman is only going to improve as he continues to work this material. I feel honored to have one of the knives showing the first efforts in this style.
The white metal sheath is well done. It appears to be a silver alloy, as is traditional for such knives. It is shiny and beautiful, like fine, polished silver. It differs from other such sheaths that I have seen in that the wood insert does not come all the way up to the mouth of the sheath, but stops an inch or so short and there is just bare metal at the top.
Traditionally some of the most valuable of these knives and sheaths were decorated with red coral or blue turquoise gemstones. Yangdu tells me the next such HI knives to make their appearance over here may well have gemstones. Ill be waiting to see what they look like.
HI TIBETAN KNIFE BY RAJ KUMAR KAMI
Overall length -- 12 1/4''
Weight --8 oz
Spine thickness --1/8''
Dragon brass inlayed on one side of blade
White metal handle
Decorative white metal sheath
Looking for a warm home at $120.00 *Sold*
My first impression - A bonny Tibetan dirk.
Red Flower and I have encountered mass-manufactured Tibetan knives of this same general size and design all around the Tibetan plateau. Weve seen knives similar in design from Urumchi and Turpan in the Gobi desert to the north, in the land of Kham and in Szechwan province to the east, and in Nepal to the south. Generally the steel in these mass-produced knives is not of high quality, and they usually have brightly colored glass gemstones decorating the sheath. Below are some photos from one of Yangdu's earlier posts of such a mass-produced Tibetan knife.
Kami Sherpa gave us one such, of the style pictured above, and Red Flower keeps that one by her bedside. That one has dragon and phoenix decorations on the sheath, which Red Flower likes because they are Chinese symbols for the male and female elements.
Rajkumars effort stands out against the factory-produced examples like that above. The first thing I noticed is the quality of the steel. I had no intention of torture testing this knife, as it is obviously the accoutrement of a gentleman, but I couldnt resist giving it a little whack on a piece of firewood sitting by the stove. It neatly cleft off a thin piece of kindling. Then I wedged it in the wood and gave it a sideways torque. There is a small amount of flex appropriate for a thinner blade, but no indication I had pushed the knife past any kind of limit. Its plenty strong enough to handle any social event a gentleman traveler on horseback might encounter while traversing the bandit-ridden highlands of central Asia.
The handle is similar in appearance but much sturdier than the tourist-oriented knives of similar design. It is not quite as symmetrical as they are though, and at a couple of points a bit of what appears to be laha shows through the silver covering. To me this gives the knife a special character. I think the craftsman is only going to improve as he continues to work this material. I feel honored to have one of the knives showing the first efforts in this style.
The white metal sheath is well done. It appears to be a silver alloy, as is traditional for such knives. It is shiny and beautiful, like fine, polished silver. It differs from other such sheaths that I have seen in that the wood insert does not come all the way up to the mouth of the sheath, but stops an inch or so short and there is just bare metal at the top.
Traditionally some of the most valuable of these knives and sheaths were decorated with red coral or blue turquoise gemstones. Yangdu tells me the next such HI knives to make their appearance over here may well have gemstones. Ill be waiting to see what they look like.
If you ever see anything you like, just give Yangdu a quick email. She'll let you know what she has, what she expects to receive, and how long it might take to get something made
