Mongolian? Knife/sword
 

Unpacking some stuff from storage and this guy turned up.

I bought it when I was in XiAn, China in 1987, at a "free" market that was built up series of stalls on the burial mound of Qin Shi Huang Di.

Walking up and down the lane in hunt mode revealed almost everything as reproduction tourist junk, supposedly from various burials in the region. 99% junk, with some banged up household utensils thrown in for "antique" cred.

A vendor caught my eye when he drew the knife and hacked the edge of his booth, which was made of heavy gauge (+ or - .051 inch, or 1.5mm thick). It cut an oblique slash about 3/4" deep clean through the metal! Some poor person had to have caught their hand or shoulder on the razor sharp curl later!

He had me, so I bought it.

A ray skin covered wooden scabbard with brass mounts and an iron ring, concealed a blade that appeared to have some sort of crystalline structure.

I have some etching solution and was wondering if blades of this type have any worthwhile figure that will show up once it's cleaned and etched?

Any comments, as usual, are most welcome.

I could see a dagger like that being useful in the peculiar way that Mongolians slaughter sheep. They poke a small hole in the sheep's belly/abdomen, stick their fingers in the hole, and pinch off the artery going to the heart. That way they can kill the animal peacefully without spilling any blood.

Yes, it would be worthwhile to polish and etch this knife. From the way the blade has oxidized you can already tell that the blade has an inserted edge of high carbon steel. Probably why it cut so well. A polish and etch will reveal a Hamon along the cutting edge and then the body of the blade should reveal some lamination. If you decide to proceed please share the results.

Polished and etched!

I had a little time on my hands today and cleaned, polished and etched the blade.

I used some circuit board etching solution about 50/50 strength for about 30 minutes. Next I lightly wire brushed it by hand and applied a coating of Renaissance Wax to the lightly heated blade.

When it was room temp I buffed it by hand with a cloth to bring up a bit of luster.

This was my first try at blade etching, so comments and suggestions welcome!

The difference in impressive.

Could you tell the exact dimensions of the knife?

Then were there 2 holes to insert chopsticks into the scabbard on the outer side of scabbard?

It turned out very nicely. I didn't realize it was a double edged blade. The result is similar to what you would get on a good Jian blade. The two edges show the hardened edge and then you have the central core softer steel that reveals the nice lamination. It has a sort of wood grain effect. The hardened edge zones appear like the hamon from a Japanese sword. Same basic concept so no surprise there. Hard edge. Soft body. This creates a very hard and sharp edge that isn't too brittle because of the flexibility the softer core provides when you strike something. Hence its ability to chop into wood without chipping or breaking.

It chopped steel!

I wouldn't believe it unless I saw it!

I just showed your knife to a room full of Mongolian men. They confirmed it was Mongolian but that it was a "killers knife" and that I should not buy it under any circumstances.

Interesting.

What else did they say about it?

They barely spoke any English , but they seemed to think that the hilt and scabbard were supposed to look like a regular Mongolian single edged knife that everyone used to wear so you could carry it without raising suspicion.