It's not much...

Safe cave, thank you for sharing
 
Hmm after having done a bit of looking I am wondering if I just don't understand LOL. The older keris all seem to be delaminating. I guess they didn't get the metals hot enough to really weld the differing carbon content layers together? Or perhaps the acid wash they use to finish the pieces wasn't properly neutralized and continued to eat at varying rates the harder or softer steels? Anyways, most of the older blades seem to be really poorly finished. Is that always true or is it just because of the price range I am looking in? I tried looking for variations but didn't see much that looked different regardless of the reputability of the seller or price range but like I said, only just starting to look.
 
I've seen expensive older blades that look like they've got good integrity, but you're right in that many old ones seem to be coming apart. I always assumed somebody poorly re-etched the blade at some point to bring the pamor out.

Evaluating kerises is a whole science/art/magic that I was never able to comprehend. I usually don't feel comfortable spending more than $50-$60 on something unless I'm pretty sure it's legit, but I still can't tell with kerises. If you want to get a real "respectable" keris for around the $150 mark you can, but it's going to be a very plain and simple looking one. More ornate looking ones can be found at that price point but they always turn out to be tourist kerises.
 
Now THIS is an extremely clever piece of metal
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The Point Of Balance is 3 inches from the beginning of the blade, which is exactly where the POB is for the KLVUK. It's top heavy so it's perfect for chopping. However, unlike the KLVUK, the blade's edge starts at the 3 inch mark. So you can comfortably hold the blade with your grip right at the POB if you want to do fine work. Here is is next to my Bidor Parang, which I haven't handled yet, and the KLVUK and my Uzbek Pichok.
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The Bidor Parang's edge starts much closer to the tang, so you wouldn't be able to hold it so close to the POB. The Parang is nowhere near as thick as the KLVUK so it would never be able to out chop a khukri, but I do think it offers a combination of chopping and fine work that no other knife I own could match.
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The wood in the hilt and sheath is beautiful too. It stinks of linseed oil, but that should go away eventually.

If you tossed me out of a plane into the middle of the forest and I could take anything that would fit on my belt, I'd take a Mora, a folding saw, and either a KLVUK or a tomahawk.
If they tossed me into a jungle I'd take a Mora, a folding saw and a big Tramontina machete.
In either situation if for some contrived reason I could only bring one piece of steel with me I'd take the parang.
If they tossed me into the plains or the steppe I'd be happy with just the Pichok. Or if I had a cabin with a proper axe and saw the Pichok would be fine too.
 
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Thanks! Me too. I just won this pair of little guys

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The bottom one appears to be a dha dagger from Thailand. The top one I have no idea. Very strange hilt shape and decorations. I don't imagine either are very old and maybe they're just tourist bringbacks, but I didn't pay much for them so I'd be fine with that. I also won this.
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I believe it's aSyrian Khanjar. It looks like there's some nice decorations beneath all that rust. The rust looks fairly recent and superficial so hopefully there won't be too much pitting or discoloration after a dunk in some mineral oil. An "authentic" Khanjar of that style would have silver inlaid decorations, not sure if that'll be the case on mine. I'll clean it carefully either way.
 
Interesting. The Khanjar looks like the active rust is a very thin layer so far so got my fingers crossed it hasn't done much damage yet. I have also seen similar Jambiya listed as "West African Slaver Jambiya" or similar when made cheaper without the silver inlay. Instead of the inlay they do just an engraving. Another find research and restore project :D
 
Yeah, that rust looks pretty new. My concern is that when I wipe it down with mineral oil, the rust that breaks off will act as an abrasive and scrape off the inlaid design. I might just literally soak it in a bucket of mineral oil over night and then just dab the rust off.

If you zoom in really close, some parts of the blade seem to have a mirror finish. The rusty parts seem to have a surface layer peeling off. I think the blade must be plated with chrome or something and the rust got underneath it some how. I don't know much about khanjars but I assume that means the blade isn't particularly old. My hopes aren't high that the inlays are actual silver. It only cost me a sawbuck before shipping so as long as it isn't Chinese plastic I'll be happy.

Interesting about the similarity to the slaver khanjar. A lot of middle eastern sword and knife designs made it to the interior of Africa because of the slave trade. I wonder where the khanjar/jambiya design originated. You find similar designs from India to Morocco and everywhere in between.
 
Oh, it won't arrive in the mail for another week or so. I've gotta be patient which isn't my strong suit.

I've been doing more research on the Khanjar and while this one bears a resemblance to some Syrian Khanjars, you also find many similar ones on Google described as "Indopersian" Khanjars. So maybe I'm wrong in calling this one Syrian. Usually the decorations on the blade are done by koftgari, so I guess it couldn't possibly be a chromed blade. Unless they scraped the chrome off before they applied the koftgari, but that'd probably look really stupid even when the blade was new. Maybe the bits of peeling metal on the surface are actually bits of silver (or whatever they used) for the koftgari. I'll have to find some way of removing the rust without losing any more of the koftgari. I wonder if there's some way to "reapply" the bits that've peeled up? Maybe heat the blade up with a butane lighter and then hammer the silver back into the blade?
 
or they could have chromed it AFTER the koftgari was done, though probably not. Well techincally Indo-Persia is the middle east. So Syria is in the area considerd Indo-Persian for historical weaponry. I think the thing about it is since so many countries are all very similar and since the borders have moved around a bit since Persia was the dominant party in that location that people refer to the whole area instead of trying to specify a country like Syria. For instance Omani are also found all over not just in Oman...
 
If they chromed the blade after the koftgari was done, wouldn't that cover the silverwork with chrome and defeat the purpose? I suppose they could have crosshatched the blade, then applied the chrome, then the silver on top of it. But I think for koftgari to work the scratches you put into the surface have to have nice deep 90 degree walls for the silver to adhere to so that probably wouldn't work either. I guess I'll find out when it arrives.

When you look at the history of the region I can see how Syria would be sphere of Persian influence just as it's under Iranian influence today. I do still wonder where the jambiya/khanjar/koummya originated. When reading about Omani/Yemeni Jambiyas it sounds like it existed there before Islam.
 
I was thinking perhaps they masked off the koftgari. Though probably not, I didn't know about hte 90 degree walls for successful koftgari. Be very interesting to hear what the results are once you have it inhand if you can even tell then LOL.

Really? the Omani is older than Islam? wow. Never read anything about that. I wonder when it did originate then. I always thought it was related back to the persian Samshir which is 12th century. Prior to that I believe the Persians used a straight sword not curved. I would think the dagger (Jambiya ect) would not be curved prior to this when they were using a straight sword so I imagined they were using the akinake at that timeframe. interesting.
 
According to this article They found some statue from 500 BC with a Jambiya on its belt. This is in Yemen rather than Oman, and I can't find a picture of said statue so who knows. I have a feeling there were curved daggers in that region before Islam, but then over the centuries other influences cross pollinated with other regional curved weapons.
 
Interesting. Here is what I was using to base my thought that Persian daggers where straight not curved until more recently. Sure makes for a confusing process figuring out who used what, when and where and on whom LOL.

"However, the Persian shamshir is a relatively recent weapon, and did not exist in antiquity. The Achaemenid-era Persians made use of more than one kind of sword. Ancient Persian art typically shows the king's bodyguards and important nobles wearing ornate diagonal daggers. Greek art, on the other hand, frequently shows Persian soldiers using the kopis. One must therefore do some detective work to figure out which type is the acinaces.

One useful bit of evidence is that Greek and Roman texts sometimes mention the acinaces being given out by the king as a sign of favor. This would tend to point to the dagger.

A ritual use of acinaces, offered as a gift to the sea by the Persian king Xerxes, is also mentioned by Herodotus (History, VII, 54), in the ritual contrition scene following the episode known as Flagellation of Hellespont.

A very revealing passage is found in Josephus' Jewish Antiquities 20.186, where the weapons used by the sicarii are described:
And the so-called sicarii, which were a type of bandit, were at that time reaching their greatest number, making use of small swords, which were like the Persian acinaces in respect to their size, but curved like the Roman sica, which is where these bandits got their name.
This also seems to indicate that it is the dagger which is properly called the acinaces though there are those who deny this, translating the above passage as "concave like the Roman sica".
 
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My oh my! Hey you got a spare bedroom. I wouldn't mind hanging out with you so I could watch you open your mail firsthand every day.
I've kind of been thinking hard about being Aunties neighbor too so I could help her some and watch her open big heavy packages too. Would that be a blast or what?
 
OK is that bottom one proportionally as short as it looks? That appears to be about 19-20 inches long from the proportions I think I am seeing? hehe, I agree with Bawanna, Blue's mailperson must really be fond of him for all the fun gifts he brings. I wish I could get away with so many packages. My husband would kill me if he saw all those boxes being delivered.
 
Come on over any time! The sad thing is, the only time I ever get to use a knife these days is to open packages of more knives/swords that come in the mail.

This Rapier is definitely a child's toy or a decorative piece. It's too small for even my dainty hands.
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The blade has a very crudely formed single edge that isn't anywhere near sharp. It becomes double edged towards the tip.
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The blade has no distal taper and it's stiff as a rod. I'd say it's a little less than 1/4th inch thick. It's quite heavy for its size, which is typical of fake weapons. I bet it's a decorative piece rather than a toy.
 
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