tom hyle
15th January 2005, 05:12 PM
I've recently seen a couple of khoumiyas that seem particularly old and display a feature contrary to the commentary on this site, so I thought I'd share. We think of the Khoumiya as being flat in the ricassoe, much like an European blade, but I have recently obtained one with a central ridge line in the ricassoe, such that it is like a diamond section, but with heavy unsharpened "rebated" edges, then the cutting part is brought to an edge (no doubt as part of the original construction) with a sharp high plunge and full bevel removal rather than a secondary edge. Hard to get a mental picture from my babble? I saw an (even older) one on ebay, this one with a giant pommel and a fully metal-cased handle (mine has the more typical/modern pommel, though I believe an old version of it, a tang-band, and central jambiya ferule), and what looks like a midrib/hollowed bevels. #6502386855 The edges of the ricassoe actually look raised, which mine is grooved on one side in sort of imitation of.