What sort of steel is this please? (Indian blade)

Philip · 1st February 2009, 03:59 AM

It seems that the "hairpin" folding patterns of Tibet. Bhutan, and parts of the Assam and the Sino-Tibetan borderlands were not, as a rule, carried over into Nepal. I've polished a good number of kukris for collectors of these things. Two of them, in the former John Powell collection, were very spectacular pattern welds; one ( a budhume or broad-bladed type) had the dense distribution of "pools" or "bird eyes" seen also on some Indian talwars, the other one (a narrower-bladed "honshee" with a longish grip) had a striking and highly unusual pattern resembling a forest of fir trees. Both were differentially heat treated, the edge showing up as a broad band of differing color and refractiveness, analogous to a "hamone" on a Japanese blade. Other kooks which I've polished showed evidence of much simpler lamination others were all but homogenous (probably made from railroad steel or carriage springs, per Mr. Powell) but they invariably had the "temper line" at the edges.

The art of forging pattern welded blades, some of pretty high quality, is still alive in India.

1st February 2009, 03:59 AM	#12
Philip Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: California Posts: 1,036	It seems that the "hairpin" folding patterns of Tibet. Bhutan, and parts of the Assam and the Sino-Tibetan borderlands were not, as a rule, carried over into Nepal. I've polished a good number of kukris for collectors of these things. Two of them, in the former John Powell collection, were very spectacular pattern welds; one ( a budhume or broad-bladed type) had the dense distribution of "pools" or "bird eyes" seen also on some Indian talwars, the other one (a narrower-bladed "honshee" with a longish grip) had a striking and highly unusual pattern resembling a forest of fir trees. Both were differentially heat treated, the edge showing up as a broad band of differing color and refractiveness, analogous to a "hamone" on a Japanese blade. Other kooks which I've polished showed evidence of much simpler lamination others were all but homogenous (probably made from railroad steel or carriage springs, per Mr. Powell) but they invariably had the "temper line" at the edges. The art of forging pattern welded blades, some of pretty high quality, is still alive in India.