A worthy kattar for comment

francantolin · 20th May 2018, 08:47 AM

Shazaam !

A really old post comes back !

( I was looking for informations about etching blades on kattar daggers and found this post ... )
I have an old all rusty kattar with perhaps wootz/damas blade and with little gold koftgari remains on the handle.

I wonder if an vinegar-acetic acid bath will destroy the koftgari...
Any advice for clean it in the best way ?

Thank you

Jens Nordlunde · 20th May 2018, 03:19 PM

Funny to see such an old thread again.

francantolin, I would clean the blade and etch it, to see if it shown any pattern, and then clean the side guards and the cross bar carefully, not to remove the remaining gold.

Montino, I hope you take good care of your nice katar, and I was surprised to see, that no one of us told you from where it is.
Hendley in his book Damascene Work in India, plate 25 writes that it is 'false damascening in gold from Kotah.
To me it looks like a Deccani kater decorated in the north.

20th May 2018, 08:47 AM	#1
francantolin Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 905	Shazaam ! A really old post comes back ! ( I was looking for informations about etching blades on kattar daggers and found this post ... ) I have an old all rusty kattar with perhaps wootz/damas blade and with little gold koftgari remains on the handle. I wonder if an vinegar-acetic acid bath will destroy the koftgari... Any advice for clean it in the best way ? Thank you Attached Images

20th May 2018, 03:19 PM	#2
Jens Nordlunde Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 2,718	Funny to see such an old thread again. francantolin, I would clean the blade and etch it, to see if it shown any pattern, and then clean the side guards and the cross bar carefully, not to remove the remaining gold. Montino, I hope you take good care of your nice katar, and I was surprised to see, that no one of us told you from where it is. Hendley in his book Damascene Work in India, plate 25 writes that it is 'false damascening in gold from Kotah. To me it looks like a Deccani kater decorated in the north.