Hello to all,
This is my first post and I would like to introduce myself and throw my hat into this conversation. Although my current knowledge is quite limited in regards to South Asian arms, my favorite swords are tulwars. I can thank Matt Easton for planting this seed and ebay for letting me get my hands on some of these swords with my rather meager budget.
As far as why are all these hilts without blades on ebay, I just assumed it is because of the old tradition in India of hilts and blades being easily interchangeable. While an old sword blade could be made into something useful quickly, an old hilt would just get tossed aside. In regards to this "epidemic" of tulwar hilts on ebay as Ariel refers to it; I think folks just realized rather than just let these old things rust away in the shed, some westerner will pay thirty bucks for it. I am referring to all these real antique, but junky (often broken) tulwar hilts on ebay. They don't seem to be doing the fake old stuff racket the way the Chinese do so often on ebay. These cheap hilts often have a missing disk and/or a broken langet.
In regards to all the missing disks on many of the hilts, it is simply because they are worn out old junk. I just bought a tulwar from an American seller with the disk missing from the hilt because I like the stout old blade that came with it. It definitely had a disk at one point (long ago), but these parts do seem to be the first part that breaks. I plan on replacing the hilt with a different one purchased on ebay from India. A really nice one which I will attach using a traditional Laksha based cutler's resin. Another tulwar I have is completely solid except for a wiggle in the disk. I think this is just a common problem with these mass produced "munitions" level hilts.
In the future I plan to post pictures of my tulwars and the re-hilting process to share and request knowledge and opinions.
Cheers!
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