|
Post by Kilted Cossack on Sept 9, 2011 13:52:46 GMT
It's funny, sometimes, how you can look back and see something that changed your life, in a profound way, when, at the time, it didn't seem like anything at all. When I was in high school, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth (or at least when Ronald Reagan did), each year on the last day of school my friends and I would bike to a restaurant and have a long leisurely lunch. My freshman year, we went to a Greek restaurant that had murals on the wall. The murals were kind of in the "Soviet realist" school, kind of blocky, kind of exaggerated. I've got a weakness for that style. And most of the murals depicted Greek mountain fighters during the Greek War of Independence. That ended up getting me interested in the Ottomans, and Christian peoples under Ottoman domination, and one strand of that led to an interest in the Serbs and then the Russians (as Slavic Big Brother to the Serbs), and another strand of that led to an interest in the Turks, and Turkic peoples, and Central Asia. Now I'm fluent in Russian and lived a couple of years in Central Asia, but that's all sideways to my main point. In the murals, the Greeks were armed with rifles, and funny looking knives, with a forward curve to their blade. The rifles were probably not period accurate, but they looked an awful lot like Greek Mannlicher Schonauers, and I've been a sucker for full stocked rifles ever since, and for the 6.5mm cartridges that those Mannlicher Schonauers fired. But that's sideways to the issue here, too. It's those long knives that interest me now, here. They were, of course, yataghans. I've read up a little on the yataghan----lots of "subject peoples" carried them, because they weren't, technically speaking, swords or sabers, which were restricted to either Turks, or Muslims, I'm not quite sure which. But, hey, you can't deny a man the right to carry a knife, right? (At least for most of human history.) Yataghans. Well, I've got, as the title says, the fever for the flavor of a yataghan. Yataghans, it need not be said, are mighty thin on the ground of the sub-$300 replica market. I thought about this, I thought about that, I thought about the other thing. I'm not at a point where I can commission a custom yat, although hopefully that day will come. Then it occured to me that maybe I should look to TFW. traditionalfilipinoweapons.com/Sandata.htmlThe lahot, the talibong, the dahon palay, the katipunan, or, honestly, any of the Sansibar swords could, if you squinted just right, from a few meters away, pass as a yataghan. I would need to redo the grips, of course, to get that "jug eared" yataghan look, but, hey, a project is a project (and projects are good!). Am I just off my meds, or what do you think?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2011 14:31:45 GMT
I think the sansibars come the closest to the shape you need, especially three and four. I haven't yet received my product from TFW (the Chinese dao, sorry, can't help you with the sansibars) but I can tell you that so far the customer service is excellent. and I researched the company before I purchased, their reputation is top notch.
|
|
|
Post by Bryn on Sept 9, 2011 14:35:42 GMT
I'm with you on this one. I think probably the sansibar 1 would be your best bet. It looks close enough to me to the real/original blade shape. You might have to do some work with the ricasso to get it closer to a Yat, but really, those are solid choices for starting blades. Definitely one of the few shapes that would work.
|
|
|
Post by Elheru Aran on Sept 9, 2011 15:04:23 GMT
Long time no see, Kilted!
I'd disagree with the rest and tell you to go with the... Panabas, that was it!
You might have to file down the spine above the recurved part to bring it down a bit, but aside from that, I think it'd work the best as far as the shape goes.
One thing to remember about TFW is that their blades don't have a full tang like Euros or even Turkish swords do-- they're 'push' tangs, IIRC, secured with epoxy or resin. You might have to account for that; that's also part of the reason I picked the panabas, it's got a longer grip so presumably a longer tang...
|
|
|
Post by Kilted Cossack on Sept 9, 2011 22:09:37 GMT
Elheru:
I've been . . . more crazy than usual (?). Ah, sometimes it goes in cycles, and for a while there I succumbed to the bunker mentality, PLUS I got all irritable when someone (a kid, almost certainly) started sneaking into our backyard and running off with cigarettes. The really horrible thing was, the little punk (I'm hoping) ran off with my reworked Windlass Revolutionary War Saber that I'd turned into a shashka. Grrr. Grrr. I finally had a chance to talk with the local police. Hey, let me put on my stern (Roman) Republican toga and say "O tempore! O mores!"
Thanks for the heads up about the tang difference. I'm sure I can live with it, even if it'll always bug me a little.
There's a side option---apparently at least one Chinese forge is duping French Chassepot yataghan bayonets. I'd feel bad about tearing down an original yataghan bayonet, but not a repro. Choices, choices!
|
|
|
Post by Elheru Aran on Sept 11, 2011 23:52:42 GMT
Oh yeah! BKS is doing a 'Tactical Yataghan' if you're interested... for a cool $400ish... Could run it by John Lundemo, see if he'd be willing to just bang out a quick blade in rough polish that you could finish and grip yourself? As for the saber/shashka, yikes. Sounds like you need to invest in an sentry-gun and barbed wire. Not necessarily in that order
|
|
|
Post by Kilted Cossack on Sept 12, 2011 3:21:28 GMT
Unfortunately (or not), spring guns are illegal in Texas. I had to patiently explain to my Russian born wife that running an extension cord out to the back gate latch and wiring it up, that's illegal too. (But you HAVE to love the idea.) I think we've narrowed down the culprit, think it's the kid who's been cutting yards in the neighborhood. Just to cover the bases (and not with any hope that they could do anything) I called out the police a second time, after I woke up to find the new latch we'd put on the side gate unscrewed one morning. After talking with us, the officer talked with one of the neighbors, and she'd seen this kid in her back yard the day before. Nothing conclusive, and it's not the kind of the the police are going to spend a whole lot of time on, but the officer went by and had a little heart to heart with the kid. I really don't like people coming into my back yard, what with all those daughters and everything. Anyway. YATS! The cheapest and easiest way----not the best, mind you, but the cheapest and easiest, seems to be going with this: www.bytheswordinc.com/p-1528-yat ... -3590.aspx (Unless someone is going to warn me off?) Then I still get the thrill of tearing it down and rebuilding it, and I can hold off on a TFW or Scorpion Swords version until later. Thoughts?
|
|
|
Post by chuckinohio on Sept 12, 2011 13:36:11 GMT
What is this?
Am I smelling a Frankenghan cooking?
Good idea man, the yataghan is very sorely under represented at any price level.
|
|
|
Post by Kilted Cossack on Sept 12, 2011 13:54:31 GMT
To paraphrase Jack O'Connor, I've had a craving flung on me, I can't rest and my vittles don't sit right. Yataghan fever, baby!
|
|
|
Post by Kilted Cossack on Sept 15, 2011 23:18:46 GMT
The above mentioned (aforereferenced?) reproduction yataghan bayonet has been ordered from Bythesword.com. With an OAL of 28" and a blade length of 22", it's probably shorter than my imagination calls out for, but also probably falls into that "very usable, not quite a sword, not really a dagger" category of intermediate fighting weapons. It will almost certainly be Frankenyatified, and I will track down the chart I saw at myarmoury.com on yat handle typology. I am cautiously optimistic, with hopes of being wildly enthused at how things turn out.
|
|
|
Post by Elheru Aran on Sept 17, 2011 21:58:09 GMT
Well, it's a bit closing the gate after the horse's flown, but if you're not into the bayonet you could look into the Cobra Steel 'kopis'. ...Hmmmm? It even has a full tang going on... only thing you'd really need to do would be take off the grip and add a new one, maybe work down the wider part of the blade so it's a little more parallel. I've been thinking about doing this myself, actually...
|
|
|
Post by Kilted Cossack on Sept 17, 2011 23:11:40 GMT
Ooh, now, that one's also mighty tempting. And I suppose one could advance the argument that you can never have enough yats on hand. . . .
|
|
|
Post by Kilted Cossack on Sept 25, 2011 3:19:22 GMT
So here I am, 24 September, no yat-bat (i.e., yataghan-bayonet) in hand, wishing I'd ordered from KOA. Man I wish I'd ordered from KOA. (Yes, they don't stock what I ordered, but still.) Hmm. It's Saturday night, why am I staring at the mailbox? There won't be a delivery before Monday at 3 pm. Maybe I should order a Cobra Steel kopis, just to see if a week or so's difference will compensate for Bythesword.com's shipping, and KOA's shipping?
Grr, grr! I am the goldurned paterfamilias, and I should not have to wait for my yat fix!
|
|
|
Post by Vincent Dolan on Sept 25, 2011 4:10:59 GMT
Hey, Kilted; dunno if you know this, but if you know the manufacturer, KoA can special order things for you.
|
|
|
Post by Kilted Cossack on Sept 25, 2011 4:59:23 GMT
Ha! One more reason to run with the ones we know.
|
|
|
Post by Vincent Dolan on Sept 25, 2011 8:52:59 GMT
Booyah:
Can you get me an item I've seen somewhere else but is not listed on your website? Probably. We have access to literally thousands of items not listed on our website. If you can provide us with information on it, we will let you know if we can get it. We can usually get you a better price as well.
From their F.A.Q.
|
|
|
Post by Kilted Cossack on Jan 4, 2012 15:55:36 GMT
Updates, so I can keep this whole "fever for the flavor" of a thing going. I e-mailed the vendor, and was told there'd be a slight delay while the manufacturer restocked, then I kind of forgot about it until the day after Christmas. Which would be Boxing Day, if you're British. So I e-mailed the vendor again, slightly warm in tone, and lo and behold! they had just that day received my bayonet into stock, and it should be on its way to me EVEN AS WE SPEAK.
And I also picked up the Cobra Steel kopis, which I'll talk about when I have shaken off the flu.
|
|
|
Post by chuckinohio on Jan 14, 2012 6:13:03 GMT
Keepin this up top, I'm smellin some frankenghan cooking.
|
|
|
Post by Kilted Cossack on Jan 14, 2012 15:11:22 GMT
Chuck, I'm about three days from besmirching and befouling the name of the vendor. The bayonet yataghan has not showed up, and I'm beginning to think it won't show up. "Oh next Tuesday" e-mails no longer amuse me.
Ah, but the kopis will still yatify quite nicely!
|
|
|
Post by Direwolf_22 on May 25, 2014 13:51:01 GMT
So... I know this thread is almost old enough to be an archive but did you EVER get your yat...? I have recently caught the bug just in time to find out that Windlass no longer produces them!
|
|