Sgt. Karka Bilton Kothimodas -- pix and very good buy.

First impressions of the pair I just recieved.

The USPS Priority box was clean & undamaged,
The usual heavy newspaper wrapping on the blades,
but both scabbards were dented.
More on that at the end.
Anyone else have damage?


As soon as I saw these I was impressed.
They look -much- better in person than the pictures.

The scabbard is -very- well made.
A sturdy white-metal (non-magnetic)
that has very pleasing & well-executed
stamped "engraved" lines making the design.
Very clean construction.
Red Velvet looks fine,
although If it were red leather I'd say I preferred it.

The blades & handles are as nice as usual,
with maybe an extra touch or two of care.
Again white-metal fittings.
They are very close in dimensions,
but not exactly the same.
They fit somewhat tightly in the scabbards,
although they just got in from the cold
& might loosen. ???


Scabbard #1 damage:
Worse of the pair.
Longish 'punch' type dent in the flower in front.
The back 'shell' has a similar dent in about the center,
And worse, a dent in the upper edge of the collar & top.
This last dent was angled up & pushes in
on the top surface behind the blade entry.
The collar to the side of this is bulged out.

Scabbard #2 damage:
Only a small dent on the back shell center similar to the first.

This damage is surprising since the metal is sturdy enough
to require some force exerted to dent it.
I could not with my hands squeezing
unless I had something hard to push with.
Frankly, it looks like someone used one
(or something else hard) to hammer on the other.
Or maybe banged the scabbards on the edge of something hard.

It does not look like they were stepped on.

Fortunately,
the retaining band in the midle seems loose enough
to slide off and allow disassembly.
I can probably push out most of the dents and bends
with a round tip dowel.
 
Got one on the way - I'll post results here...
 
Mine arrived yesterday. The knife looks like a bilton on steroids - very well executed, much beefier and slightly larger than my other bilton. Reminds me a lot of the 9" "mini-Hanumans" that popped up awhile back.

Snug-fitting scabbard, excellent condition, no damage. Very pretty.
 
Mine had no damage. Should have bought more, it is very nice. One of ht esharpest knives I've gotten from HI. Next time I think about a custom sheath for a big khuk I may try to work it in as a super-karda.
 
The Sgt. Karka Bilton on the left is from the first batch. It has brass bolster & buttcap. The engraving on the scabbard is a little deeper, but the chape has a tack in the back that isn't great. The other two that just arrived today have deeper engraving on the sword of Shiva. I like the white metal bolsters & buttcaps. The chape is more professionally finished, no tacks. All three came with a good convex working edge and now have a full polished convex edge. The one in the middle has a dark grey horn handle that is very attractive.

I was going to give a couple of these away, but it's going to have to be to someone very special.;) They are really nice!

Steve
 
I think 3 can be considered hoarding. ;)

The one I got had a small dent on the back where the frog usually covers.
 
Wanted to have a before pix;
before I started trying to fix.
Left scabbard has a glimmer were the small dent is.
Right scabbard you can see the lower dent & the effects of the upper dent--
The upper you can't see, but is deeper than the lower one.
Gap under the collar to the right is about 1/8".
I think I can fix everything but the crimp into the top
(which you can't really see),
it looks like it would fracture if I bent it back.
Already have the middle band removed to start disassembly.
 
I really like that beefy one in the middle of your pic, Steve. Any noticeable difference "in-the-hand"?


Also, IMHO, the steel furniture is much nicer than the brass.


Dan
 
Originally posted by pendentive
I really like that beefy one in the middle of your pic, Steve. Any noticeable difference "in-the-hand"?


Also, IMHO, the steel furniture is much nicer than the brass.


Dan
Click to expand...

Dan, the measured differences are only in tenths, or thousandths of an inch, but yes, they're noticeable. Since I have small hands, they all fit well, but the middle one is my favorite.

Steve
 
Originally posted by ferguson
...but the middle one is my favorite.
Click to expand...
hope mine shows up the same...I'll post a pic when it comes in.
 
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