Jambiya Blade Construction

Oriental-Arms · 25th August 2009, 04:48 PM

For the benefits of us who are not sure what is the meaning of two pieces blade or sandwich blade or whatever you call it, I took the liberty to show a close up of such a blade which I spared and opened the welding (It was easier than easy).

And fully opened:

I have never been to Yemen and never seen how it is being done (I wish I could but due to certain political obstacles I can not do it). But in my very humble opinion, at least the blade shown above is of very poor quality. It is made of two thin, 0.5 mm thick, galvanized iron sheet pressed in a die (see Lew comment above) and badly welded (not soldered), which make the task of splitting it open very easy. In my very humble opinion, the round rib or the squared rib is only a question of who pressed the blade on what die.

I am afraid we can not regard it as a weapon or a tool and only hardly accept it as a traditional costume artifact.

kahnjar1 · 26th August 2009, 08:24 AM

Hi Artzi,
Thank you for your interesting pics, and your input. I have seen sandwich blades which are only spot welded every couple of inches along the edge.
This is usually very evident in any pics of the blades.
I think it would be fair to say that you have put my mind at rest regarding these blades being genuine or not. By "genuine" I mean a weapon blade. I will continue to avoid them.
Regards Stuart

Gonzalo G · 29th August 2009, 06:48 AM

I don´t know if I understood well. Does it means that the yemeni two-pieced blade jambyyas have the rib arisen from the inside, meanwhile the one piece blades have the ribs forged from the surface? Does anybody knows what kind of tools are used to do the last operation? Is it a female swage kit with the negative form of the rib to forge it over hot metal, or it is made in other way? The rib is forged over a straight blade, latter curved, or is forged over the already curved blade? Thank you in advance for the information you can give to me on this matter.
Regards

Gonzalo

Michael Blalock · 29th August 2009, 05:30 PM

Here you will find many answers to your questions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXpDjvuj9f4

The feed is very slow though.

Michael Blalock · 29th August 2009, 05:42 PM

Here is part 2. Making the scabbard. We may look at the displays of Jambiyas in shops as made for tourists but the Yemenis obviously take a lot of pride in manufacture of these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fblhiKMOPvI

kahnjar1 · 30th August 2009, 07:29 AM

Hi Michael,
Thanks for the two You Tube links. Interesting to see the process, I can see that I will have to improve my anglegrinder skills!

I think this confirms my observations, that most of the items coming up regularly on "THAT AUCTION SITE" are indeed very modern items, and in my humble opinion not worthy of wasting $ on.
Regards Stuart

kronckew · 30th August 2009, 07:59 PM

amazingly short tangs on them...

25th August 2009, 04:48 PM	#1
Oriental-Arms Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Haifa, Israel Posts: 183	Sandwich blade For the benefits of us who are not sure what is the meaning of two pieces blade or sandwich blade or whatever you call it, I took the liberty to show a close up of such a blade which I spared and opened the welding (It was easier than easy). And fully opened: I have never been to Yemen and never seen how it is being done (I wish I could but due to certain political obstacles I can not do it). But in my very humble opinion, at least the blade shown above is of very poor quality. It is made of two thin, 0.5 mm thick, galvanized iron sheet pressed in a die (see Lew comment above) and badly welded (not soldered), which make the task of splitting it open very easy. In my very humble opinion, the round rib or the squared rib is only a question of who pressed the blade on what die. I am afraid we can not regard it as a weapon or a tool and only hardly accept it as a traditional costume artifact.

29th August 2009, 05:42 PM	#5
Michael Blalock Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: dc Posts: 271	Here is part 2. Making the scabbard. We may look at the displays of Jambiyas in shops as made for tourists but the Yemenis obviously take a lot of pride in manufacture of these. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fblhiKMOPvI Last edited by Michael Blalock; 29th August 2009 at 05:58 PM.

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26th August 2009, 08:24 AM	#2
kahnjar1 Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND Posts: 2,789	Hi Artzi, Thank you for your interesting pics, and your input. I have seen sandwich blades which are only spot welded every couple of inches along the edge. This is usually very evident in any pics of the blades. I think it would be fair to say that you have put my mind at rest regarding these blades being genuine or not. By "genuine" I mean a weapon blade. I will continue to avoid them. Regards Stuart

29th August 2009, 06:48 AM	#3
Gonzalo G Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Nothern Mexico Posts: 458	I don´t know if I understood well. Does it means that the yemeni two-pieced blade jambyyas have the rib arisen from the inside, meanwhile the one piece blades have the ribs forged from the surface? Does anybody knows what kind of tools are used to do the last operation? Is it a female swage kit with the negative form of the rib to forge it over hot metal, or it is made in other way? The rib is forged over a straight blade, latter curved, or is forged over the already curved blade? Thank you in advance for the information you can give to me on this matter. Regards Gonzalo

29th August 2009, 05:30 PM	#4
Michael Blalock Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: dc Posts: 271	Here you will find many answers to your questions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXpDjvuj9f4 The feed is very slow though.

30th August 2009, 07:29 AM	#6
kahnjar1 Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND Posts: 2,789	Hi Michael, Thanks for the two You Tube links. Interesting to see the process, I can see that I will have to improve my anglegrinder skills! I think this confirms my observations, that most of the items coming up regularly on "THAT AUCTION SITE" are indeed very modern items, and in my humble opinion not worthy of wasting $ on. Regards Stuart

30th August 2009, 07:59 PM	#7
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,225	amazingly short tangs on them...