Thor,
I am not an expert on these knives, and would defer to others on this forum that are more knowledgeable. One posting in the past
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...=desert+police)
gives you some information that the knives are used for both defense and offense, but will be carried by most males in traditional dress in Jordan. So I suspect that it would mostly be for custom (especially these days, as is the case with most traditional knives), but that they could indeed be used as intended if the occasion arose. As for how they would be employed (tip up or down), I have no knowledge. If it came down to my needing to use it, I would go into the fight with the tip up, but that is because of my self defense training in college over 30 years ago. I would hope that I never have to find out.
Thanks for the confirmation of the handle material.
Dave