# Communities > Antique Arms & Armour Community > Middle-East, India & Africa (MEIA) >  Some bladesmiths from contemporary Turkey

## Sancar Ozer

Hello all,

I was very pesimistic about the state of modern bladesmithing in Turkey when I first begun collecting swords and other edged weapons. And I posted in this forum many times in that negative state of mind. 

Thanks to internet and a handful of smart and interested people, state of sword collecting and bladesmithing changed drastically in 21st century;and today, despite the legal difficulties and lack of interest in general public,  many bladesmiths, some hobbyists some professionals, but all "usta"(master)s of their craft, practice the art of traditional Turkish bladesmithing. I would like to present some of those "usta"s and their work to you  :Smilie: 

*Gökhan Bakla* is a third generation bladesmith from Western Turkey, that works extensively on reviving Turkish damascus patterns and crucible wootz(bulat or polat in Turkish) steel. His work pioneers modern Turkish bladesmithing in those fields:

His website: http://gokhanbakla.blogspot.com/





The very first wootz ingot ever made in contemporary Turkey(together with Eylem Cengiz usta)

----------


## Sancar Ozer

*Bekir Çankırı* usta is a master bladesmith, metal engraver and artist from Turkey. He works mostly in traditional Turkish forms but reimagines them with a modern twist:

His website: http://bekircankiri.blogspot.com/

----------


## Sancar Ozer

*Abdurrahman Doğan*  and *Süleyman Şahin* "usta"s are master swordsmiths and yataghan makers from the famous village of Yatağan, Denizli. As I wrote in another earlier thread(http://www.swordforum.com/forums/sho...%26%23287%3Ban) this mountain village is an important swordmaking center in Anatolia and fabled birthplace of Turkish yataghans. These two "usta"s work exclusively in yataghan making and also trying to revive turkish kilij making.

Website: http://www.yataganelsanatlari.com/Default.asp

----------


## Sancar Ozer

*Eylem Cengiz* usta is another master bladesmith from Istanbul,Turkey. Even though he mostly works in modern forms of blades, he also studies aspects of traditional Turkish smithing and wootz making. Together with Gökhan Bakla, he is one of two people to make first wootz ingot in contemporary Turkey. 

Website: http://www.eylemcengiz.com/

----------


## Sancar Ozer

*Sinan Erşen* usta is another master bladesmith from Bandırma, Turkey. He works in traditional forms, especially an expert on traditional Anatolian Turkish knives from Gönen region, and also a master yataghan maker.

----------


## Sancar Ozer

*Turhan Tuncay* usta is a well-known knife and sword maker from Ankara, Turkey. 

Website: http://moganbicak.com.tr/

----------


## Sancar Ozer

More to come...  :Smilie:

----------


## Greg T. Obach

Hello Sancar Ozer

thank you for the post, there are some very interesting blades in the pictures !!

do you have some details of the ingot, and was Usta able to forge this into a blade ?
the ingot looks very good !

from what i have seen, i would say that bladesmithing in Turkey is doing very well !!

take care
Greg






> Hello all,
> 
> I was very pesimistic about the state of modern bladesmithing in Turkey when I first begun collecting swords and other edged weapons. And I posted in this forum many times in that negative state of mind. 
> 
> Thanks to internet and a handful of smart and interested people, state of sword collecting and bladesmithing changed drastically in 21st century;and today, despite the legal difficulties and lack of interest in general public,  many bladesmiths, some hobbyists some professionals, but all "usta"(master)s of their craft, practice the art of traditional Turkish bladesmithing. I would like to present some of those "usta"s and their work to you 
> 
> *Gökhan Bakla* is a third generation bladesmith from Western Turkey, that works extensively on reviving Turkish damascus patterns and crucible wootz(bulat or polat in Turkish) steel. His work pioneers modern Turkish bladesmithing in those fields:
> 
> His website: http://gokhanbakla.blogspot.com/
> ...

----------


## Sancar Ozer

Thank you Greg. Actually there are much more going on in Turkish bladesmithing to show than I posted here but these are the ustas I have a little more info about(some that I know personally), and that I could find good pictures of their work online to post.   Because of some legal difficulties about swordmaking in Turkey and lack of interest in the market, most bladesmiths in Turkey must also have "day jobs". Most don't have websites and only do custom work. Many artisans only see this as a passion and a hobby and, and instead of making money from their art, most of the time spend a lot of time and money to revive forgotten techniques. But I berlieve this is onlythe beginning and public and official opinions about this lost art will change soon; thus giving bladesmiths more freedom to pursue this art and being able to sell their work to the world more openly.

Sorry I don't I don't know if he forged it into a blade but I think there are some detailed pictures in Gökhan usta's blog: http://gokhanbakla.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html

----------


## Greg T. Obach

i've followed the links you sent and they have made some very nice ingots !  I'm sure that some very nice knives are being made from these.  I wish these bladesmith's success in revival of their techniques.  The most difficult part of wootz steel is actually producing decent ingots from which knives can be made.  The forging of the ingots does take time and lower heat than regular steel, but that is just a matter of figuring out what works best with their metal.  

I like their blog, its a great strategy to put it on the net !   

thank you for posting this...  i'd like to thank the Usta's aswell, but i think there is a language barrier 

take care
Greg

----------


## Sancar Ozer

You are most welcome Greg; learning english language is common and very popular in Turkey so I don't think you'll have a problem getting into contact with ustas. And I would be happy to help, if needed.  :Wink:

----------


## Sancar Ozer

A quick update... Just learned that Gökhan Bakla usta forged one of his wootz ingots into a beautiful knife; thus creating the first ever Turkish wootz blade forged in these lands for 300 years. It might not seem much for you guys, but for us, this events marks an important point in history of reviving traditional Turkish bladesmithing. I am confident this developement will give way to many more in close future.

Some pictures, courtesy of Gökhan Bakla usta:







Many detailed pictures of the ingot and the blade can be viewed from this link to Gökhan usta's own blog:

http://gokhanbakla.blogspot.com.tr/2...ta-celigi.html

----------


## Sancar Ozer

Ben a while since I last posted here. Here are some updates and new swordsmiths from Turkey. 

First a quick update, a beautiful European style longsword from Sinan Erşen:

----------


## Sancar Ozer

*Cengiz Çetin* usta is a scholar, artist, archer and traditional swordsmith, shield, armour, composite bow and quiver maker from Ankara, Turkey. He works exclusively in traditional forms and techniques, and work on almost every kind of gear and weapon used by Turks. Here are some examples of his many works of art:

Kilijs:






Shields:





Composite Turkish bows:




Turkish quivers:






His facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cengiz.cetin.3114

----------


## Sancar Ozer

*Ahmet Turani*usta is a master swordsmith and armour maker from İstanbul, Turkey. He makes great kilijs and related blades with great durability, flexibility and performance. You can see the test videos in his facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/ahmet.turani.587


Here are some examples of his works:

----------


## Sancar Ozer

*Turgut Aydemir* is a professional swordsmith from city of Bursa, the historical bladesmithing center of Turkey. He makes Turkish kilijs and many beautiful blades in both traditional and comntemporary forms:

Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/aydemirbicak

Some examples of his works:

----------


## J.G. Hopkins

This is a wonderful thread, Sancar!  Thank you for sharing your country's bladesmiths with us!

Jonathan

----------


## Sancar Ozer

You're most welcome, Jonathan. I am just so proud of the ground that is covered in such a short time. Only in this last couple of years, many talented people came forward and started to share information online, discuss historical arms and armour and try swordmaking. And look at these works of art they created. I can't even begin to imagine how the Turkish blade market will look like in 10 or 20 years. It started with only a handful of people and now it's spreding like a wildfire despite all the legal difficulites and other challenges. I hope the historical research aspect and historical Turkish fencing aspect will also catch up to swordsmithing aspect soon.

----------


## Sancar Ozer

I'd like to present you all, "Alparslan" the latest work of Sinan Erşen usta:

Hand forged from 1075 carbon steel. Hilt is made of water buffalo horn. Guard is made of chrome. Scabbard is made of pine tree, covered with lambskin. Metal parts are engraved chrome decorated with brass details.

Overall: 100 cm.
Blade: 86 cm.
Weight: 990 grams

----------


## Sancar Ozer

Latest work of Turkish bladesmith *Osman Başkurt* usta:

A beautifuly crafted late period kilij named "Cezzar"; blade is forged from 6150 spring steel, with 83 cm length and blade width is 4cm at crossguard and 4 cm at the spur. Overall weight is 800gr and point of balance is 12.5 cm from the crossguard. Hilt is made from walnut wood.

----------


## Sancar Ozer

It's been a while since I last posted something here but two latest works of Osman Başkurt made me want to share those works of art with the world  :Smilie: 

First one is *Baybars*: a late period Ottoman kilij or so-called "pala", forged from 1070 spring steel. Overall lenght is 84 cm and it weighs only 710 grams with Point of Balance at 16,5 cm from the crossguard. It has a characteristic T spine 1 cm thick, that tapers to 8 mm at spur(beginning of yalman on the back) The width of blade is 4.1 cm at guard, and 4.1 cm at yalman.Blade and spine has chisel work.

----------


## Sancar Ozer

The second one is an Ottoman karabela type sword with 16th century blade as we call *rumi-palmet* shaped hilt with steel forged crossguard. Weight is 734 gr and POB is at 18 cm from crossguard. Length is 90 cm and 7 mm thickness at spine that tapers to the spur or beginning of yalman. Blade width is 3.6 cm at yalman and at crossguard. The hilt is made from elm wood with a burn effect.

----------

