Afghan/Khyber Knife

[Ren Ren]

Hi Jens! My own name is Sergey and I know that it is even funnier for English-speaking people. I took the Ren Ren nickname many years ago at the Sinologists forum, where I was led by interest in Chinese weapons. In Chinese 刃人 means Blademan.

I do not insist that it is certainly a camel bone. To confirm this, I need to see the object with my own eyes. But looking at the photo it seemed to me that a dense grid of small parallel cracks is present. And I wanted to draw attention to this. First of all, the attention of the owner of this nice khyber knife.

[mariusgmioc]

1. I would test the blade for wootz.
2. Generally camel bone is the material of choice for hilts (but also for other artifacts) because it has higher density and is much less affected by the spongy structure of the cow/buffalo bone.

[ariel]

The blade looks well-polished and ready for etching: it will take very little time and effort and no harm will be done. Although I wouldn’t bet on finding wootz.

[Jens Nordlunde]

Ren Ren - thanks for the explanation :-).


It is said that African ivory was prefered to Indian ivory, as it was harder, and camel bone would be even harder, but do you know if camel bone was used often for hilts?

[Norman McCormick]

Hi,
Some close-ups of the hilt which may help. Looking at the blade with a loupe I don't see anything to indicate to me that it might be wootz.
Regards,
Norman.

[mahratt]

I agree it's not a walrus or an elephant, either. The handle is made of bone from the leg of a hoofed animal (cow, buffalo or camel)

[Jens Nordlunde]

Even I can see that now - I am glad to say - but does anyone have a guess from which animal it could be?

[Ren Ren]

Originally Posted by Norman McCormick

Hi,
Some close-ups of the hilt which may help. Looking at the blade with a loupe I don't see anything to indicate to me that it might be wootz.
Regards,
Norman.

Thanks for these pics, Norman!
They reinforced my opinion that the hilt of your knife is made of camel bone.

[Jens Nordlunde]

Ren Ren, thank you for the explanation, which I find quite interesting.
I admit that I was guessing, when I wrote that camel bone was harder than ivory.

[Ren Ren]

Originally Posted by Jens Nordlunde

It is said that African ivory was prefered to Indian ivory, as it was harder, and camel bone would be even harder, but do you know if camel bone was used often for hilts?

I talked to the masters of bone carving. They spoke about the intricacies of the choice of bones of ungulates intended for carving. Bulls older than 4 years old and old cows that stopped feeding milk for 2 years (calcium from the bones partially passes into milk) gives excellent bone quality. Today, industrial methods are used in agricultural production - almost all bulls aged 2 years are sent for meat, cows are sent for processing immediately after they stop giving milk. The bones of such bulls and cows are of poor quality and significantly lose to the bones of camels. Therefore, for about 30-40 years, camel bones are very popular among carvers and knifemakers. But I have never heard that a camel’s bone is superior in hardness to an African elephant’s ivory.