Recent additions

[Shavru]

Yep, Mad Jack is one great part of British history. You just can't make up people like him and Young Winston pre-political days. Absolute nutters both named Churchill and both sure knew how to command a battle, even in Winston's case when he was a sub-altern on "leave from his unit" and acting as a war correspondent so not in the chain of command. Yet the only officer left alive. LOL. many MANY stories I have read of him as a young man in India and Africa. British history is full of "characters" and Lt Col "Mad Jack" Churchill is one of the quite colorful but not most outlandish ones.

 

[Ballistol]

New toy arrived today. A axe from Slovakia.

Handle length: 645 mm ( 25.39" )
Edge length: 133 mm ( 5.23" )
Hole inner diameter: 31 mm ( 1.22" )
Total weight: 965 grams ( 34 Ounce)

 

[Bawanna]

Beautiful thing. I'll have to break out my conversion chart, I don't do metric.

Sure looks nice.

 

[Ballistol]

Thanks. I edited the post, and added inches to.

 

[Bawanna]

I think I could rig up a mount for something like that on my chair. Very cool and the numbers make me like it even more.

 

[christcl]

Love the axe!

Ever since I took two Appleseed rifle classes this year and been watching the AMC revolutionary war spy drama, my curiosity in hand axes has been piqued

 

[kronckew]

nice axe, don't have one like it.

yet...

will have to check my tame swordsmith's website in praha {prague}

 

[kronckew]

bought this instead
ottoman yataghan. will have more details when it eventually gets here. looks like ribbon pattern welded steel.

 

[Dobe_1]

Two new ones I just received from Pakistan. The top one is one I posted before

The handle really looks nice. It is wood and horn.

The Damascus patterns on the Kerambit are very nice. Too bad they'll get scuffed when I work the blade. Form follows function, aesthetics too.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kronckew]

yat finally arrived!

485 grams ex. scabbard, 27 in. blade, roughly 1.25 in. wide, 0.25 in. thick near bolster. blade has a shallow fuller both sides, turkish ribbon pattern welded, no pitting at all, some patination of the steel. tarnished black silver/(or pewter(?) decorated bolster missing a few bits, as is the strap covering the tang/scales joint, one 'ear' is cracked and loose, the ears appear to have some shallow rounded holes that may once have held gemstones or coral. the ears also have remnants of silver pebbled decoration. grip appears slightly offset to the right but feels like that is deliberate, the scales curve to fit the offset. it fits the scabbard fine & with no wobble. the scales look like they are a dark brown wood, possibly they were once all covered by the silver?

scabbard shows some stitching loss near the mouth and near the tip, where a few inches of wood are exposed, wood is a bit split but essentially intact to the tip. mouth has a decorated metal covering, mostly black now..

overall, it all needs a good clean & oiling & a bit of TLC. last photo shows it with my shorter bulgarian karakulak yat. all in all, i'm happy with the under £50 it cost me.

some hd pics from my galaxy phone:

 

[kronckew]

also found this on ebay usa, sadly stainless, but what the heck.it was cheap.

on it's way, hope it gets thru customs


edited:
:sorrow: ebay's international shipping centre refused to send this to me, i got a full refund, but would have preferred they had sent it, it's not illegal here, i've had an antique one shipped from india no problems and thru ebay india too..

 

[Bawanna]

also found this on ebay usa, sadly stainless, but what the heck.it was cheap.

on it's way, hope it gets thru customs

Seen these, never in person. Sure don't look like they'd be comfy to hold onto and lousy to carve or whittle with?

I assume you grab them two round pieces and the long arms go on top and below your arm? Maybe they aren't that far apart one can grab them like a handle?

 

[Scara]

Seen these, never in person. Sure don't look like they'd be comfy to hold onto and lousy to carve or whittle with?

I assume you grab them two round pieces and the long arms go on top and below your arm? Maybe they aren't that far apart one can grab them like a handle?

If you're trying to use a Katar as anything other than a weapon, you're doing it wrong.

 

[blue lander]

That yataghan is just beautiful. I'm jealous!

 

[kronckew]

Seen these, never in person. Sure don't look like they'd be comfy to hold onto and lousy to carve or whittle with?

I assume you grab them two round pieces and the long arms go on top and below your arm? Maybe they aren't that far apart one can grab them like a handle?

as scara says, it's only a weapon. you grab the two transverse bars, the side bars guard your arm. not suitable for a tool. my other, antique, katar:

it's really a tight squeeze to get a larger western hand between the bars. i'm hoping the repro one is a bit wider.

appears to be made from the tip of a european rapier blade sandwiched and riveted between a carrier section. many katar are fitted with short thick triangular blades with swollen tips for penetrating mail armour. like this one from google images:

they vary wildly in length, occasionally curved, some have side guard plates.

this shows one in use:

the other guy is trying to stab him in the back with another style of dagger, a chilanum.

 

[davidf99]

All the vintage katars that I've seen for sale are only about 2.5" between the side bars. Not nearly enough for my average sized western hand. When yours arrives, let us know the dimensions.

I've noticed that many or most of the vintage katars have well-reinforced transverse bars, usually linked to each other in the middle, like the one in your google image. That's what one would want in a katar that was really designed to be used as a thrusting weapon rather than just for display.

 

[Bawanna]

So my first thought was the correct thought far as how to hold the thing.

I'm gonna dislocate my right shoulder and try to pat myself on the back on this one.

 

[kronckew]

if you do you'll be riding around in circles again.

 

[Shavru]

Kron, looks interesting, but I am guessing you are going to be disappointed. The distance between the cross pieces can't be too far or it won't fit the hand well at all. Based on that I think the side bars are going to be a tight fit too. But hopefully I am wrong. Look forward to hearing details once you have it

 

[davidf99]

I just had to get a katar, so I checked the ones available at auction. The fancy vintage or antique katars with engraved decoration were too expensive for my taste. The brand new cheap replicas looked like movie props; in particular the transverse hand grips seemed inadequate to support the hand or to stand up in actual battle (which I expect to engage in as soon as my war elephant arrives).

I settled on a reasonably priced katar that looks like it might be an authentic vintage blade, though that could be faked. It seems sturdy and well designed, but without the engraving that drives up the price. Lots of surface rust that I hope will clean up with some elbow grease, and which might account for the reasonable price. Anyway, here are some pics from the seller (in India):