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Post by bigpete on Apr 22, 2013 3:32:31 GMT
Does anyone here have any experience with the khyber knives made by Deepeeka that are for sale for around $54 on Kult of Athena? Are they worth buying and sharpening up? Also do any Aussies on here have any experience with KoA or any idea on how much shipping would cost for one ?
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Post by Elheru Aran on Apr 22, 2013 16:42:19 GMT
I wouldn't go with the Deepeekas. Windlass' is a decent piece, but HUGE grip!
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Post by aussie-rabbit on May 6, 2013 14:51:30 GMT
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Post by randomnobody on May 6, 2013 21:35:27 GMT
Different kind of knife. bigpete's looking for one of these: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesh-kabzNot that the Nepalese kukri is an insubstantial knife, or HI's Kobra line (a take on the Sirupate style of kukri), but a completely different thing from a completely different place. Antiques aren't immensely hard to find, but get expensive. Modern repros are lacking, with Windlass' model being in the lead from what I've personally seen. Edit: my phone sucks.
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Post by demonskull on May 6, 2013 22:32:49 GMT
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Post by randomnobody on May 7, 2013 0:10:29 GMT
Saw something line those (same thing, I'm mostly sure) on KoA when I first saw this thread posted. kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=PA3141They seem like they could be pretty decent knives, but I'd only call them lose interpretations of proper Khyber/pesh kabz. I'm also admittedly wary about stainless at that size, but I'm sure it's fine for normal use. Kind of want to gamble on one, myself, but those sheaths...they just look awful, and I'm nowhere near crafty enough to make my own.
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Post by aussie-rabbit on May 7, 2013 11:47:31 GMT
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Post by bigpete on May 7, 2013 11:56:26 GMT
Where about is your review ? I had a look in the reviews sections with no luck,I'd be interested in reading it
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Post by aussie-rabbit on May 7, 2013 12:00:18 GMT
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Post by randomnobody on May 7, 2013 18:21:39 GMT
Well, yeah, HI's long been known to make ridiculously tough knives and is probably at the top when it comes to kukris. Kukris also have the benefit of being great knives, and the sirupate style is one of my favorites. I've only got two proper kuks currently, been out of the buying world for a while, but I do have a sirupate from Khukuri House that I picked up off a forum member sine years ago: But a kukri is still not a Khyber/charay/pesh kabz/choora/whatever as the original search was for.
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Post by randomnobody on May 12, 2013 8:31:30 GMT
I just want to go on record as saying this thread has played a very bad influence on me. I have spent every day since its start scouring the internet for knives of this style and similar offshoots and families. I have found too many...and cannot afford any of them. :x Curse you all. (Seriously, though; aside from the Windlass offer, which it seems is discontinued, I have found a few antiques on offer in varying conditions, running $4-700+ USD. I am also captivated by the Persian kard, and some of the Indian variants. The only other options I've stumbled over for new manufacture is ancientarms.biz which I seem to recall has a less-than-stellar reputation...so I'll be sticking with antique shopping. I'd snag the Windlass from one of the few places that seem to still have one (KoA is out ) but that's $165 I could spend on other things that I won't need to tweak to enjoy. (why did they "age" it, anyway?))
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Post by Ramsay318 on May 12, 2013 10:55:59 GMT
I picked up a deepeeka a while back, and it actually isn't that bad. A little rough, especially where the handle plates meet the tang, but servicable. It has a full tang, and a 1/4" thick back. Here are the issues, though: it tends to rust easily, the sheath is useless, and it will take patience and time to get it sharp. I was also going to mention that the tip can bend, but mine tapers to a more acute point than these new models, so I doubt they have the same problem (and mine had an encounter with a metal fence post at the time). Plus, the horn grip is a bit slick, but then, I don't like horn anyway. But, if you take care of it, you'll get a durable blade with a sharp edge (I just scraped away with a manual sharpener for about a week). I understqnd a lot of people's kneejerk distrust of deepeeka, but unlike their medieval or roman items, this is a decent piece, and, considering the price, it's worth the effort to fix it up and make it better.
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Post by Timo Nieminen on May 12, 2013 21:05:58 GMT
If the Windlass would be OK, with perhaps a little work, the Deepeeka should be OK too. Both have the problem of being about twice as heavy as they should be. Which makes antiques a lot more attractive - if there isn't a good production model, what other choices are there? An antique is likely to be cheaper than custom.
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Post by randomnobody on May 12, 2013 21:51:41 GMT
True, but I tend to lean to the aesthetics of the Windlass over the Deepeekas, personally, so that was the biggest favor in that match. I've seen a few custom makers who do "inspired" blades; none of them really do actual, proper, "real deal" khyber etc. but they have done and have for sale numerous knives that are "in the spirit of" such. Bud Nealy is a name that keeps coming up in my searches, but this is what he's marketing as a "pesh kabz": www.budnealyknifemaker.com/Imm12_20-p1-9.htmlNot my thing, but I'm sure their good knives. I'd found a few more names I can't seem to recall OR find again right now, but ebay has a few takes on "modern" styles, also. Classical variants are seemingly only available from Indian "damascus" shops and are all pretty characteristic Indian "damascus" stuff. That is, gaudy furniture on soft, blunt blades with generally random, unappealing, heavily etched and darkened patterned blades. Antique is definitely the way to go, but that's a pretty tough market. Especially if one is hoping to make use of the thing. :? All that said, I'm very tempted to see what ancientarms.biz does with this: www.ancientarms.biz/servlet/Detail?no=1961It's just cheap enough that even if it's crap, it's decent.
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Post by randomnobody on May 12, 2013 22:05:21 GMT
I've referenced pesh kabz here, but it's also the strongest search term to pull up just about any of the middle-eastern/indopersian blades, and since Khyber is a region, searching for "khyber knife" turns up mostly the Windlass model, Wikipedia's article on the pesh kabz (with a picture of the "khyber" one might have been looking for) and a few pesh kabz and chooras. I'm still trying to figure out the difference. I read one place that a "choora" will have a rounded off corner at the bottom of the edge, leading into the finger guard, whereas a pesh kabz generally won't...but I'm seeing a lot of mixing between the names and blades just about everywhere. For fun, here's Oriental Arms' search results for each type: "Khyber": oriental-arms.com/search.php?q=k ... 8&s.y=-581 "Pesh Kabz": oriental-arms.com/search.php?q=p ... 8&s.y=-538 "Choora": oriental-arms.com/search.php?q=c ... 8&s.y=-538 "Karud": oriental-arms.com/search.php?q=k ... 8&s.y=-539 "Kard": oriental-arms.com/search.php?q=k ... 8&s.y=-539 The last two seem arguably more Indian than Persian or Afghan (Khyber seems to be part of Afghanistan, connecting to Pakistan) but the styles are similar and I, personally, am equally fond of both. Oh, and there's these guys, the "khanjar": oriental-arms.com/search.php?q=khanjar&page=1 which are more India and not really my thing, but some may like them. Note that on these pages there is a good bit of overlap; quite a few knives list under more than one of the search terms. Oriental Arms is just one dealer of antiques, there are others about, but they have the best gallery I can find.
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Post by Pogo4321 on May 12, 2013 23:35:54 GMT
To bring a few different ideas in this thread together. I recently picked up a Himalayan Imports Uddha sword. The attached pic isn't mine just one to show you what they are. Very nice blade. Would love to get another. Mine has a horn handle with a full profile tang. I don't think HI has them on their website, but if you contact Auntie Yangdu you can get one made to order. Attachments:
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Post by randomnobody on May 13, 2013 0:20:54 GMT
Aha, I'd thought HI had done something similar, but couldn't find it on their site. Thanks for finding it.
It's not really anything I'd personally go for, but it's pretty nice in it's own way. There is a variant that is generally accepted as north-Indian, sometimes seen in Nepal, so I'd wondered if any kuk places had something like it.
Edit for auto-incorrect.
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Post by Elheru Aran on May 13, 2013 0:50:32 GMT
The Windlass is aesthetically correct in images and visually, but in hand it's rather... incredulous (that's not a typo and I know it's the incorrect use of the word, but that's how I feel). The grip is two honking BIG slabs of horn stuck onto a heavy brass casting surrounding the tang, which is fairly beefy in its own right. The balance is somewhere behind the guard.
The blade form is beautiful, but I cannot comprehend why in the world Windlass went with this way of making the grip... don't get me wrong, the knife is functional as is, but if the grip was lighter it would have far more authority in hand. I'm hacking the grip of mine to bits and am going to only keep the bolster as that's the main part I can't easily reproduce on my own.
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Post by Timo Nieminen on May 13, 2013 0:59:55 GMT
Also "charay" and "salawar yatagan".
Difference between a pesh-kabz and a choora? Mainly size (Stone says chooras vary from 14-30" of blade, and pesh-kabz are usually under a foot of blade. The pesh-bakz usually has a pointier point, and more of the handle sticks out of the scabbard.
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Post by randomnobody on May 13, 2013 2:23:26 GMT
Elheru - Yep, that seems to be the main complaint, and I'm baffled by their decision, too. The one reason aside from the aging that I haven't snagged one already. Heck, I saw it in a catalog years ago and instantly thought "that's gorgeous but why antiqued?"
Timo - Yep, so many names. Really hard to keep up with. Now that you mention it, size does seem to be a presiding factor. Then again, I've seen a number of (let's call them knives) selling as "choora" with blades under 12", and blades up to 30" as "pesh kabz," so I still have no idea. Seems like it's one of those cases of just throwing every word that somebody looking for this sort of thing might search for in the hopes of the one in question turning up.
I just wish there was a better modern repro available, or since I've read these are still in pretty wide use, I'd sure like to see somebody contract out the local smiths, like we've been doing for kukris for decades.
Granted, the area isn't exactly the best, I guess, for proper business connections...
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