An Overview on The Modern Arabian Saif

[A.alnakkas]

The two swords shown are of the mediocre quality. the white one has mounts made of gold plated bronze and the brown one is gold plated aluminium.

Both blades are high carbon, balanced and VERY light.

[A.alnakkas]

This sword is mine. The mounts are made of 989 silver in traditional style. All hand made.

The blade is an old Persian wootz blade that came with no mounts :-)

[A.alnakkas]

Cant post a wootz sword without showing the pattern! (I kept the patina, didnt etch the blade)

[Battara]

Good to know that the traditions are alive and well over there.

Thanks for posting these!

[Iain]

Great post! Regarding the newly made blades, are the forged locally? Made from available steel scrap and heat treated? Or imported from another region like India?

From an outside perspective it seems like these swords are often remounted, which can be frustrating for the collector who might like to acquire one with mounts the same age as the blade. Are any parts of the mounts typically recycled? Perhaps guards?

I'm sure I'll have more questions as you continue to share information on the topic!

[A.alnakkas]

Originally Posted by Iain

Great post! Regarding the newly made blades, are the forged locally? Made from available steel scrap and heat treated? Or imported from another region like India?

From an outside perspective it seems like these swords are often remounted, which can be frustrating for the collector who might like to acquire one with mounts the same age as the blade. Are any parts of the mounts typically recycled? Perhaps guards?

I'm sure I'll have more questions as you continue to share information on the topic!

Hey Iain,

The blades come from many sources but a good number of swords coming out of Bahrain (mainly) are locally made with professional skill. Other blades like pattern welded ones are imported from India, mainly to Qatar as Bahrainis make their own pattern welded blades. A swordmaker in Qatar works with Syrian bladesmiths who moved to Lebanon due to the war. Also heard of blades coming from Brazil but often seen as very poor quality.

The swordmakers also do restorations and often they perserve the old parts depending on the order of the customer. Although I find some of their restorations to be way too invading as some simply do not have a concept or understanding on perserving old items.

There are some occasion where wootz quillons and scabbard mounts are perserved but generally they would be cleaned, etched and put on scabbards that are made to look like the old ones.

[Richard G]

Thank you for these pictures,
To be honest, if it were not for the provenance, I would have suspected the first two swords of being chinese versions of a Gulf saif. I am sure you will disagree with me but, it seems almost as if the originator is now imitating the imitator!.
Regards
Richard

[Sancar]

Does any of Arabian swordmakers work with crucible steel in the region? Does anyone try to make crucşble steel or at least forge it into blades?

[Iain]

Originally Posted by A.alnakkas

Hey Iain,

The blades come from many sources but a good number of swords coming out of Bahrain (mainly) are locally made with professional skill. Other blades like pattern welded ones are imported from India, mainly to Qatar as Bahrainis make their own pattern welded blades. A swordmaker in Qatar works with Syrian bladesmiths who moved to Lebanon due to the war. Also heard of blades coming from Brazil but often seen as very poor quality.

I'm mainly interested in the techniques used, stock removal or actual forging?

The swordmakers also do restorations and often they perserve the old parts depending on the order of the customer. Although I find some of their restorations to be way too invading as some simply do not have a concept or understanding on perserving old items.

There are some occasion where wootz quillons and scabbard mounts are perserved but generally they would be cleaned, etched and put on scabbards that are made to look like the old ones.

Good to hear some parts are preserved, I have to admit I find the tendency to put entirely new fittings on old blades a bit off putting. I would have imagined (perhaps in ignorance) that it would be possible to simply replace the perishable organic elements such as leather and wood, while preserving all the original steel or precious metal elements.