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Originally Posted by archer
What are these knives called? Are they Omani? How were they worn?
They look like the sheaths mid sections were originally covered in leather.
Blades are 5 and 51/2 inches long. The top one in the sheathed photo has
an eared balkinlike pommel. Thank you for any information on these two.
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Salaams, This is very interesting. I have backtracked to all the forum references on this subject and it crosses paths with the Omani work knife and Kukri weapons though it rightly disproves that link. These daggers are not uncommon in Eastern Arabia however they appear to belong (or were adopted into)to the Mussandam region and Ras al Khaimah in the Shuhuh tribal area.
The Shuhuh tribal area straddles the UAE and Oman. They call the dagger after the prominent name of one of the biggest groups in the Shuhuh ....
The Shehe (she he sound as in the english) I believe there are a few other sub local names but Shehe is the daggers name here and in the Mussandam and Ras Al Khaimah.
The daggers appear to have several forms and a variety of sizes. Some have flared ear pommels, some have silver decorated hilts whilst some have flat butter knife hilts depending upon where they are worn.
Flat hilted butterknife hilts are normally worn behing the khanjar with or without a small leather scabbard. For this configuration Omanis prefer the Victorian Butterknife with a spatulate blade in Sheffied Steel or Solingen however modern blades appear with Japanese maker stamps. In the case of home grown blades locals used ground down bedford truck leaf springs and old steel files to make blades. In the case of the Sheffield and Solingen knives the silver makers decorated on top of the bone or bakerlite handles retaining a robust but flatish hilt comfortable to slip behind the Khanjar. Whilst not a hard and fast rule a Khanjar work knife normally has a decorated silver hilt whilst a knife in its own substantial wooden scabbard is normally worn on its own under a belt or tucked in about the waist area. Most Omanis would simply call their work knife a sikkeen (knife) which differentiates it from the Shehe though clearly the two styles tend to fuse once the hilt is silver decorated and naturally the nearer the tribal area the more likely to encounter the Shehe style.
Some care has to be taken when dealing with the Shuhuh workshops; As an area Ras Al Khaimah is quite famous for throwing a spanner in the works and well made forgeries appear from their workshops quite frequently especially with swords. The origin of the ear shaped pommel is Turkish(Yatagan) so how it has been copied onto a Ras al Khaimah knife is open to interpretation, trade, copy or coincidence? As regarding scabbard material they are wooden and often hand worked decoration in the mid section in geometry normally. Silver decorates the tip and throad sections and mulberry clusters of silver balls are often used at the end and sometimes (not ilustrated here)on the pommel top.
I have photos of most variant stlyles attached and include a picture illustrating the Omani Work knife attached to the back of the Khanjar..
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.