Large Jambiya for comment

Lew · 15th August 2009, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

I can see that flat blades would be easier (and cheaper) to forge than ribbed ones. From that point of view, my train of thought was that the EARLIER ones would be flat as the forger would perhaps not been exposed to the technology required to make the ribbed version.
Regards Stuart

Stuart

Sorry but I think you have this backwards? The forged rib has was developed to help pop open chainmail links (armor piercing) which makes the technique quite old. The flat blade was easier to make and required less skill to produce and many newer smiths post 1900 just did not the skill to produce the forged rib. Maybe the technique was just lost as the older smiths died off and they and for some reason did not have an apprentice to pass it on to. After oil was discovered I'm pretty sure that the old art of blade forging started to die out because the sons of these old smiths could make more money in the different areas of the oil business and related areas.

Lew

kahnjar1 · 15th August 2009, 10:10 PM

Thanks Lew, and I see your reasoning. My thinking has been based on the apparent older look to flat bladed items I have come across.
Some of the (particularly) Yemeni items around even have the blade made in two halves and spot welded together. YUK!! Potential buyer beware!

Jeff Pringle · 16th August 2009, 02:05 PM

The forged-in ribs that Artzi is referring to should not be confused with the ground-in double fullers that are relatively common and very 20th century. The one jambiya of this type I’ve seen with a wootz blade was flat, neither ribbed nor fullered, and to confuse matters even more, was in a leather-covered scabbard with both authentic use-wear and bright plastic decorative trim. The Arabian peninsula is an unusual place, in that they had a very late surviving ethnographic weapons tradition and then a very rapid conversion to modern materials & decorative/tourist-grade blades - it makes for some interesting juxtapositions.

15th August 2009, 10:10 PM	#2
kahnjar1 Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND Posts: 2,786	Thanks Lew, and I see your reasoning. My thinking has been based on the apparent older look to flat bladed items I have come across. Some of the (particularly) Yemeni items around even have the blade made in two halves and spot welded together. YUK!! Potential buyer beware!

16th August 2009, 02:05 PM	#3
Jeff Pringle Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 189	The forged-in ribs that Artzi is referring to should not be confused with the ground-in double fullers that are relatively common and very 20th century. The one jambiya of this type I’ve seen with a wootz blade was flat, neither ribbed nor fullered, and to confuse matters even more, was in a leather-covered scabbard with both authentic use-wear and bright plastic decorative trim. The Arabian peninsula is an unusual place, in that they had a very late surviving ethnographic weapons tradition and then a very rapid conversion to modern materials & decorative/tourist-grade blades - it makes for some interesting juxtapositions.