It's not much...

Wow, those are incredible! Thanks for the links, I had no idea where to get one. Some sites sell Chinese made Kanetsune looking knives for 20-30 bucks, I've been thinking of buying one of those just to dip my toes into that knife style. The fit and finish is poor compared to the real deal and of course they're made from Chinese stainless steel, but I could at least see how one feels in the hand before plunking down so much money.

My fear with any Japanese blade is always cracking or chipping the edge. Seems to be the price you pay for a super sharp edge.
 
snowwolf said:
Anyone familiar with the Kizlyar brand? Russian handmade knives...

I was not until this week, and I chose to give them a shot and ordered one of their pieces: The Trident D2
kz-trident-sat-d2-kizlyar-supreme-trident-satin-blade-d2-steel_0.jpg



"Presently, the firm of IE Kizlyar Ltd. has the responsibility of upholding the traditions and crafts of those by-gone days by continuing the ancient trade of weapon manufacturing, whether its the production of traditional Cossack sashka (sabre), kinjhal (dagger) or finely crafted hunting and decoration knives forged in Damascus steel, adorned with precious stones and metals.In 1992, IE Kizlyar Ltd. (previously known as «Energoremont») produced it’s first run of knives for special orders. Upon completion, the knives were of such high quality that many more orders were soon to follow, and thus the excellent reputation of Kizlyar Knives was forged.April 1995 was to be a milestone in the companies history, being the first company in Dagestan to receive a licence for permission to manufacture hunting and military knives. Under Russian law, these items are classed as «cold weapons» and therefore, authorisation is required to legitimately produce them. This brought about the conception of the first, highly popular knife models - Scorpion, Taiga and Berkut. These found favour almost immediately with Special Forces and Police due to their aggressive design, nature and ultimate reliability."

Today I also learned that they are somewhat related to Cold Steel. I hope CS will not ruin the company mission.
Click to expand...

Snowwolf, How is that Knife holding up? Any news on if we should still consider the manufacturer a quality knife maker? I am really interested in a couple of their traditional style, but if they are going to be CS quality these days? So, what is the word on the one you got? Loving it or??
 
Blue, Yeah, If you take the nihonto for example and the testing they did against those striking the mune against stone. the change to the slimmer Hamon meant the blade was not as brittle, but the Ha (edge) is still brittle. I am afraid though that the Chinese steel won't hold up as well, so it won't really be a fair comparison.
 
Different for sure. Never seen anything like that. Whats the weight of the handle feel like, plastic light or ivory heavy?

Sure looks like ivory but many things can look like ivory I guess.
 
It feels very heavy. I'm going to assume it's plastic/bone since the alternative would be probably illegal. In my defense the hilt looked much different when it was dirty. It looked like it had dark streaks and pits you usually see on old bone. Turns out it was just dirt caught in the carving and washed off with some soapy water. Whoops!
 
Looks like its probably old enough that it could still be legal although I have no idea how one would tell date of manufacture.

Maybe you can find an obscure spot and touch it with a cut off wheel on a dremel. If it smells, like a dentist office, you got ivory.

Don't know any sure fire other way to tell if it's ivory or Mattel.
 
I'm going to just assume it's some sort of resin. If it was ivory then I'd have to get it certified by some expert to prove that it was more than 100 years old.
 
Yeah I'm positive it's resin, don't need no certified anything in my book.
 
It's a good thing too, because since I cleaned it with water it's developed a lot of tiny little cracks. I'd feel terrible if I ruined a piece of ivory so I'm glad it's resin!
 
Shavru said:
Snowwolf, How is that Knife holding up? Any news on if we should still consider the manufacturer a quality knife maker? I am really interested in a couple of their traditional style, but if they are going to be CS quality these days? So, what is the word on the one you got? Loving it or??
Click to expand...

The quality is decent but as I learned later Kizlyar Supreme and Kizlyar are two different companies. The fit and finish of the knife I got is on par with most good quality industrial knives. The edge was not sharp at all out of the box. Putting a good edge on a dull D2 steel blade is no piece of cake but I'm pleased with the result.

I'm really not into combat knife. I have very few in my collection. But I'll probably buy more Kizlyar in their Hunting or utility lineup.

Kizlyar Supreme is relatively new in the industry and partnered with many knife designers around the world.
 
OK, So the one you got was the Kizlyar Supreme, and the ones that make the traditional blades is the Kizlyar. So I can't imply quality of the ones I am looking at based on what you got. It is interesting that someone would make a tactical knife like that in D2 and ship it dull edged. I probably won't have much need to deal with the Supreme one if most of their stuff is tactical. I am one of those people who just doesn't really care for the style. I love old blades with souls the most. I imagine the Kizlyar knives I am looking at aren't exactly made using the old methods either but, unfortunately, my pocketbook does have some say in what I can and can't acquire too LOL. I haven't pulled the trigger yet because I keep hoping to get a traditional vintage version for not too much more than buying a "new" traditional.
 
Blue That particular resin seems made to resemble ivory so well that it seems to mimic a number of it's properties. ;) I would be very VERY careful cleaning it any further or you might wind up with just "resin" fragments. While I find most Yahoo writers pathetic, this writer actually was pretty knowlegable about the topic. here is an article I used when maintaining some of my real antique ivory figurines. Please take a look and I would treat this material the same way just in case it mimics any other properties of real ivory.

http://voices.yahoo.com/cleaning-antique-ivory-43752.html
 
Thanks for the link! Just for fun I'll wrap it in a mineral oil soaked cloth overnight. Just for fun of course :)

Hopefully these cracks were in it before I cleaned it. It was really really dirty, I doubt I would have seen them under all that filth. As it is they're hairline cracks less than a cm or two.

Wow, after a few hours wrapped in oil most of the cracks disappeared. There's still 3 or 4 large ones left, but maybe they'll go away after an overnight soaking.
 
Last edited:
Came across this today. Forging Keris using that blower setup with the two pistons. Looks like they are using pieces of the car or truck bumpers stacked and welded. Some nicely carved stuff as well.
[video=youtube;IqsmDofV0Kc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqsmDofV0Kc[/video]
 
What a beautiful country. I wonder if they're layering the bumper steel with a different kind of steel to create the pamor.
 
Did you see the gold nugget encrusted Pamor ceblokan. WoW!!! wish I had the money for that one. Full nuggets none of that gold foil for me LOL. Fun fun video. But it screws with my focus and makes me want to start looking for a nice Keris.
 
Did you notice how the metal was formed around the gold pieces? so it couldnt have been added later. Is cool aint it?
Shavru said:
Did you see the gold nugget encrusted Pamor ceblokan. WoW!!! wish I had the money for that one. Full nuggets none of that gold foil for me LOL. Fun fun video. But it screws with my focus and makes me want to start looking for a nice Keris.
Click to expand...

Blue: I wonder if the chrome plating on the bumper adds to the pamor once its layered in and welded? Doubt its 5160 spring steel but for modern Keris making it may not need to be?
 
Good question about the chrome plating. Maybe that adds enough chrome to the mix to get a good pamor.

I've got 3 kerises but they're all junk. I like one of them a lot even though it's a tourist keris, though. If you're going to get one Shavru I highly recommend saving up a couple hundred bucks and buying one from a reputable dealer. Otherwise you'll end up with tourist pieces.

Modern kerises aren't too expensive. Supposedly the art of keris making nearly died out in the latter half of the century, but was revived around the millennium. These millennial kerises aren't considered to have the spiritual power of the older ones, but they sure do look nice.
 
I have been looking at a couple traditional ones from a very reputable source. I just haven't decided to pony up quite that much. I will have to look for some of the modern ones and see what sort of prices they have for them.

Thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top