Who makes a good scimitar?

Well, first of all, what do you consider a scimitar? Strictly speaking, "scimitar" is something of a catch-all for the various types of curved blade common to the Arabic world; there's the saif, shamshir, kilij, nimcha, pulwar, and talwar. As for who makes one, Cold Steel offers a Talwar and a Shamshir, the former of which is just their 1796 HC Saber rehilted (and not very well, from what I remember of Sword Fan's mini-review) while the latter is a rehilted Persian Scimitar from Windlass Steelcrafts. There is also this Kilij, but I'm hesitant to mention it since I know of no one who's bought it (at least, no one I can remember). Those are all that I know of production wise; you could probably find more options if you went custom, but that would significantly increase the cost.

EDIT: Jussi ninja'd me on the CS and Windlass.

From what I remember, the Hanwei Scimitar was strictly meant for belly dancing; in theory, it probably could have been used for cutting, but the extreme curvature and the almost completely circular grip would make doing so rather difficult. It's also possible that, being meant for belly dancing despite being made of carbon steel, it may not have had a proper hilt assembly, something that could result in a helicopter of death.

The Cold Steel gets consistently decent reviews. I've handled it and it's quite light and fast. Good piece. My Windlass was curiously blade-heavy by comparison; I think I may have gotten a defective model.

By 'recurve thingy', do you mean like a yataghan?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yataghan

Yeah, wow, you're good at this! Many of the pictures of dao on Google's image search look like the type of Scimitar I like, just without the false-edge, recurve, or whatever it's called.

Here are few offerings (in the style you might like) from one India-based manufacturer, I've never seen a sword that was made by them in person so I cannot really comment on them but judging from the pictures they seem to be nice.

www.ancientarms.biz/servlet/Detail?no=1512
www.ancientarms.biz/servlet/Detail?no=1469

Click the detailed description to see more pictures.

I think I have several more India-based makers (that sell at least mid-quality swords) in my bookmarks at home but unfortunately I'm at my parents so I can't link to those. Many skilled metalworkers living in India too, yet they will get very little publicity.

Sometimes you can find antique swords of these "rarer" types at fairly good prices, yet I would not advice to cut with an antique but collecting wise they would be a nice addition to a collection.

Try searching for kilij in general and see if that would be a sword type you'd like (there are always variations on any given type of sword). But based on your descriptions I think that would be the type you are after

Here are few antiques for reference: www.swordsantiqueweapons.com/s442_full.html , www.oriental-arms.com/item.php?id=2218

When I checked out all the kilij pictures, they tend to be TOO curved and a lot don't have the crest / extra dip / recurve / false edge thing. This sword is the kind of shape I want. It's not too thick, it's not too curved, and it has the neat funky thing at the end on the blade.



Unfortunately, that sword is stainless steel and not made by a reputable brand. I guess I'm stuck with settling for the CS/Windlass. It doesn't have the exact look, but it's the only one that's decent enough to cut with at a price I can afford.



Oh, that's what it's called? Thanks for the new vocabulary word. And aww... so the neat little quirk that I'm looking for isn't really an aspect of true scimitars/shamshirs?

Thanks a ton, MOK! I guess I need to start looking for "thin-ish" Messers, then? Anyone know which brands are the basic "go-to" brands for these style swords?

It's not historical at all, but you might like the Windlass Raptor:


Review by Chris A.

Thanks for the suggestions, but they just don't hit the shape and curve right like the non functional Bud K one and Hanwei Bellydancing one. That Windlass Raptor is SO close, though! It has the thin-ness, but the curve "comes out" from the rest of the blade on the sharp side kinda weird. I'm just confused as to why there aren't any non-wall-hangar swords in the style I want. Like the first seven pictures I get with a Google Image Search are of the style I want, but there just aren't any actual functional swords with the shape. See, here's what I get when I do the Google Image Search:













Well, the last one is a bit too thick. Unfortunately they're either not real (drawings) or made of stainless steel!