Recent additions

[kronckew]

i seem to be on an axe kick at the moment.

my two latest from the last month or so.

a new bulgarian axe, cheap as chips, i've seen 15c axes that look just like this.
The axe is shafted with hard beech-tree (Fagus)
Length of the Axe: 4.9" ( 12.5 cm.)
Total Length of the Axe with the handle: 18.5" ( 47cm.)
Weight of the Axe with the handle: 1.54 lbs ( 0.70 kg.)


and a sindh, india parade axe with hidden spike dagger
24 IN. long, head 5in.


oops, almost forgot, another indian axe, this one is a real fighter, razor sharp.
not sure where in indai or when, apparently a rare style, only 1 other similar known.
MEASURES 32 INCHES IN LENGTH
BLADE 11 INCHES LONG

 

[Bawanna]

I like that first one, looks cool and you could use it.

The others are way cool too but I'd not want to tackle the wood pile with them. Too cool!

 

[kronckew]

the bulgarian axe reminds me of the archer's axes at agincourt/crecy/poitiers. used for camp axes, and for cutting & pointing the long palisade stakes they used to keep the french horses at bay. and then used to chop up the dismounted french knights.

the parade axe is indeed too flimsy for actual use, even in battle. one reason it had a hidden dagger in case someone attacked you.
even the spike though needle sharp wouldn't penetrate very far before the axe blade itself stopped it.

the last one is probably made for using against unarmoured opponents, most troops in the hotter/wetter parts of india would not have armour & it's associated padded undergarments. it's like the zulu isizenze stabbing axe. in fact, that's what the vendor was selling it as. the zulu did not use socketed axes. in fact sub saharan non-arabs did not use socketed axes. they used tanged axes with the tang burned into a knob, or bend like this one from central africa. (also new)


this is my proper old zulu axe, they reinforced the tang penetration with sheet metal, the tang is peened on the other side from the blade. it's been cleaned & treated with tannin since this photo.

this is a more typical zulu chevron shape. the stabbing axes looked more like the bottom one in the earlier post.

a stabbing one (not mine tho i keep my eyes peeled for one)


and thus endith my babble for today

 

[Bawanna]

I for one completely enjoy your babbling. You got some neat stuff.

My best to the moat monster.

 

[kronckew]

the moat monster was under the weather a bit today. i think it was that last burglar. he was a bit scruffy and the MM didn't wash him very well in the moat. you do NOT want to be around a MM with the runs. we'll have to work a bit on how to wash your food before you eat it. luckily the moat is self flushing.

 

[Bawanna]

I can see where that might be an area of great concern.

Got no use for scruffy burglars.

Smoke up for MM.

 

[blue lander]

I was thinking of getting a Bulgarian hatchet. They got some cool ones on eBay. Some have adzes on the back

 

[blue lander]

Bought me another mandau. I can't tell if it's a really poorly made real mandau or a really well made tourist mandau. Either way I think it's safe to say it's never taken a head. Once it arrives we'll see if it's well built enough to do the deed. My guess it's that it's a real mandau but a very recently made one. One for cleaning brush rather than taking heads.

I'm almost hoping it's a tourist sword, which means I can use it without fear of damaging something important. I'd love the take this bad boy out camping with me. It'd make a mean machete!

 

[kronckew]

been wanting a nimcha for a while now, finally found one in reasonable shape on epray. hopefully will arrive from the US before xmas.

19c moroccan nimcha/saif

these are usually referred to as 'nimcha' based on the shape of the grip and guard bits which have this unique look. a nimcha used to refer to a short sword or hanger used by the arab pirates, but they do exist with longer blades like this one, which is technically a 'saif' (sword).

42" long in scabbard

 

[blue lander]

Beyootiful! I've got a Nimcha but it's in really bad shape. The blade's super thin too, more like a machete. The maker actually put metal shunts into the hilt to make the thinner blade fit the mounting.

The blade's clearly old, I've always wondered why it was made so thin.

 

[kronckew]

they used european 'trade' blades as well as locally smithed ones and they re-hilted captured swords. i think some of the local blades were thinner in more recent times when they became more ceremonial than actual battle weapons. i have a tuareg takouba that has a thin blade like that.

anyway the hand grip on my nimcha appears from other photos to have some bug damaged to the organic parts of the grip which may be horn. hope i can find or make some coloured epoxy to fill the holes...

there oddly was another nimcha ebay auction posted by a dealer in france that ended 3 hrs. before mine (and the postage was less). it had a badly attacked and a kinda flaky delaminating horn grip and a locally made blade with lot of 'eyebrow' mark stamps and no scabbard. i resisted going for that one as it'd be more work than i wanted, even tho the later one had already been bid up past the early one. it went for about half what mine did in the end, i paid more than i wanted, but stuff happens. they earlier one did have a nice thick distal tapered blade tho from what i saw on the accompanying photos. it was billed as 17-18c tho.

back to ramen noodles for dinner for a while. i'm leaving the portcullis open and the drawbridge down to attract burglars, so i can cut back on feeding the dire wolves and the moat monster. the dires usually throw enough scraps around to feed ol' moatie. poppy of course gets her normal top of the line feed as royalty deserves. the vampires who supply internal security of course feed themselves off site on their own anyway.

 

[blue lander]

I thought this might have been a newer ceremonial blade, but it has 3 fullers on either side which I, perhaps wrongly, associate with old Euro trade blades.

 

[kronckew]

i have an indo-persian short sword/hanger with an old trade blade, 3 fullers. it's thin & springy too.

 

[kronckew]

just for interest, here's someone else's nimcha with a trade blade like the above.

 

[blue lander]

Those look a lot like the blade in my s'boula, which was probably made from a cut down nimcha blade.

The fullers on my nimcha are much smaller and not as deep. I took these pictures awhile ago, I need to take better ones. You can sort of see the metal shunt they stuck into the hilt to make the blade fit.

 

[ThePeacent]

I am sorry your was defective. I have bought, traded, gifted and used many of them during my life and all but one were near perfect.

I read your post, gathered the ones I still have and carry and took pictures for you! These are true classics in my country!

Have a nice day.

 

[blue lander]

A year or so I bought a fistful of Navajas from a site in Spain, basically any knife with a carbon steel blade that was under 20 bucks. Probably 6 knives. I found half of them to be good and half of them to be poorly made. I did some research and found the good ones were made in China and the bad ones were made in Spain the pallares had a loose blade and the extremena was just all around poorly made. I'm sure they make great stuff in higher price ranges but the sub $20 stuff just wasn't good.

The only exception was the Aitor Castor. That's a really well made knife. Filmam in Portugal make a really nice knife too, but they don't appear to make carbon steel blades.

 

[kronckew]

sadly the legend of toledo steel is centuries past,even the last couple of centuries when they still made swords for actual military use, many of the blades actually were made in germany. all you see in spanish catalogues these days are stainless steel wallhangers, even in the smaller fixed blade, folding knives are SS. it's trendy for people who could care less and want something they do not need to oil to keep shiny and pristine. you can occasionally find a spanish smith that works in HC steel. my langseax has a spanish blade, the grip and accoutrements were however made in france.

 

[blue lander]

I think they make some very nice blades in Spain. But they're quite expensive. The pallares has a fantastic blade, it's just that the thing was poorly assembled.

They sell knives with identical looking blades but with wood or horn handles for much more money. I'm sure those are well assembled. The $20 ones with plastic hilts are probably not put together by their most skilled workers.

 

[ThePeacent]

Hello again guys! I won two blades on an auction the other day, and I'd like to know anything you could say about them. Info, background...the sellers didn't really know much about them. Thanks!

One is a Persian Styled upswept knife, about 8" blade, 160 grams (5 ounces). Wooden handle, nice metal sheath.

The other is some kind of Filipino/Malaysian sword, grooved wooden handle, wide carbon steel blade and nicely balanced.
Pics for you:

Pacific Salt from Spyderco for size reference:

The Persian one reminds me A LOT to the CRKT Hissatsu, a deadly 7 in. version of these very knives used in a lethal and effective manner during centuries.

I love this type of blade! Have a nice day!