Old Uyghur Knives?

[Gavin Nugent]

There is a good link on HF sword forum too but not at my finger tips...perhaps one of our members who reads Chinese well can better place it here. I will look when I have the time.

I have several fine antique Pichoq in my collections along with an interesting Khyber knife with a pommel more akin to these knives than the typical horn mounted Afghan ones...its blade is well recurved and shows a nice pattern welding seen more on Chinese weapons....exact origins have always puzzled me a little but these regions are so wonderfully diverse.

There are a few books on Uzbekistan and surrounding regions that show these knives too...as I am moving home most of my books are now packed away but one title from memory is "Uzbekistan, heirs to the silk road", there may be some in "A song in metal" too if I recalled the title correct???

Gavin

[TVV]

Thank you for the link Ariel. While the thread is mostly about modern production, it seems that the traditional form is the pichok. After European contact, there have been multiple influences, leading to a variety of new forms. Some interesting history on Soviet meddling in the region as well.

Teodor

[ariel]

Originally Posted by TVV

Some interesting history on Soviet meddling in the region as well.

Teodor

An understatement of the year:-)

[driftwould]

Sajen:

Thanks for posting those pics, good idea.

TVV:

Thanks for the reply. Just to reiterate, when I posted this I really was looking for info on older types of blades that the modern ones I posted pics of descended from, and still am. The info about links to Uzbek knives is great and I'll be learning more about that the first chance I get.

SwordsAntiqueWeapons:

I read 中文 reasonably well (and live in Taiwan, so have lots of native speaking friends), but since I'm just starting out I'm still pretty unfamiliar with a lot of websites. If you can post the link you mentioned at HF sword forum that would be great- I did a Google search for HF sword forum but didn't find the site you were talking about... (yeah, newbie! ) The books sound great, please post more titles specific to Central Asian knives and other traditional weapons when you get a chance!