Russian Kindjal (Windlass Steelcrafts)
Apr 17, 2014 13:03:21 GMT
Post by Pyra Gorgon on Apr 17, 2014 13:03:21 GMT
Recently, I purchased the Russian Kindjal made by Windlass Steelcrafts from Kult of Athena. (#400318)
First off, Kult of Athena is awesome. They ship fast, customer service is hard to get a hold of, but no matter. They will exchange defective products and honor such things. Kult of Athena has been gratifying my sword and blade fetish for over a decade and I have NEVER had issue with THEM or their products until now. Kult of Athena also checks all their blades going out for visible defects so they do not get unhappy customers. Unfortunately, there is no way any employee of Kult of Athena can see interior temper stress fractures in their unsharpened state.
I bought the kindjal unsharpened. I like to sharpen my swords; there is a sense of meditative effort that goes into it. The best way to sharpen a new unsharpened blade is to draw-file it with a single cut file. This keeps the heat down, offers a lot of control, and removes metal quickly to establish your blade geometry angles. Only after the edge is complete do I put it to the abrasive felt wheel for a final polish and scratch removal. Always keep fingers under what you buff; when the heat gets to where you cannot keep your finger there, it is time to plunge it into cool water...
None of these techniques work with this Russian Kindjal. My first one, after complete draw filing, as soon as the SLIGHTEST AMOUNT OF HEAT from buffing soaked into the center of the blade, the tip cracked. CRACKED BADLY. Like...halfway across the distance of the width of the blade at the tip. I returned the kindjal to Kult of Athena, and they sent me a new one...
The new one got the same process as old one. The tippy tip broke off this time. Not only that, but I have two significant cracks developed in the concave side edge beginning after the fullers and heading toward the point. Under a magnifying glass, another 4 cracks were discovered. The convex side edge has no stress fracturing.
Even with these tempering stress cracks, the kindjal is razor sharp. I mean RAZOR SHARP. You can seriously shave with this blade and I was able to cut a piece of paper tossed up into the air in half with a hissy-paper cut sound. The grip is comfortable, the scabbard is nothing to boast of, but it holds the kindjal and has a shiny chape and throat collar of same metal. I think it is brass, but I will not confess to that. It could be brass coated something, but I just do not know.
The kindjal wiggles in the scabbard some. What I find VERY cheesy and gives me a grumpy face on is the chape is stapled onto the scabbard. Ugly. There is a set screw holding the throat collar brass that is flimsy looking. It appears that the throat collar of the scabbard can be reversed so the kindjal can be worn right-hipped. (it comes left hip ready) There are two brass lugs in the handle that index the hand to sit in the middle of the grip, and you can use them with a finger wrapped around the front one to get some intense whipping speed to a slice cut.
This Russian Kindjal is very lightweight and lightning fast in the slice. I do not know about side flex to the blade because I refuse to try that given that these kindjals have improper tempering, it will shatter on a side load force to the blade.
I am not going to bother Kult of Athena again with another return on this kindjal. I believe that the whole batch of Russian kindjals from Windlass Steelcrafts was tempered incorrectly, or they forgot to temper altogether! This steel is stupid hard, doing a "shade tree mechanic" -styled hardness test with an old carbide tooth from a circular saw blade reveals that the scratch and drag on the kindjal is at least HALF as pronounced as doing same against their Cobra Steel line (same maker).
DO NOT BUY THIS RUSSIAN KINDJAL UNTIL WINDLASS STEELCRAFTS FIGURES OUT HOW TO TEMPER THESE BLADES.
As it stands, this kindjal, being razor sharp, will work wonderfully lethal in fleshy targets, but against anything with any hardness or tough fibers, I feel this blade will catastrophically fail in those hit tests. Either the entire tip just past the fullers will shear off and leave you with a dagger sized kindjal, or the tippy tip will fracture off leaving you a tipless sword.
In conclusion, the kindjal geometry makes for a lethal and fast moving blade, length is quite utilitarian, and comfy grip. However, I believe this latest batch of kindjals are defective: the blades are thoroughly hardened, but temper is done incorrectly. If you buy this, hang it on the wall, or impress your friends with shaving paper into confetti, but do not engage any target harder than meat.
~Pyra
First off, Kult of Athena is awesome. They ship fast, customer service is hard to get a hold of, but no matter. They will exchange defective products and honor such things. Kult of Athena has been gratifying my sword and blade fetish for over a decade and I have NEVER had issue with THEM or their products until now. Kult of Athena also checks all their blades going out for visible defects so they do not get unhappy customers. Unfortunately, there is no way any employee of Kult of Athena can see interior temper stress fractures in their unsharpened state.
I bought the kindjal unsharpened. I like to sharpen my swords; there is a sense of meditative effort that goes into it. The best way to sharpen a new unsharpened blade is to draw-file it with a single cut file. This keeps the heat down, offers a lot of control, and removes metal quickly to establish your blade geometry angles. Only after the edge is complete do I put it to the abrasive felt wheel for a final polish and scratch removal. Always keep fingers under what you buff; when the heat gets to where you cannot keep your finger there, it is time to plunge it into cool water...
None of these techniques work with this Russian Kindjal. My first one, after complete draw filing, as soon as the SLIGHTEST AMOUNT OF HEAT from buffing soaked into the center of the blade, the tip cracked. CRACKED BADLY. Like...halfway across the distance of the width of the blade at the tip. I returned the kindjal to Kult of Athena, and they sent me a new one...
The new one got the same process as old one. The tippy tip broke off this time. Not only that, but I have two significant cracks developed in the concave side edge beginning after the fullers and heading toward the point. Under a magnifying glass, another 4 cracks were discovered. The convex side edge has no stress fracturing.
Even with these tempering stress cracks, the kindjal is razor sharp. I mean RAZOR SHARP. You can seriously shave with this blade and I was able to cut a piece of paper tossed up into the air in half with a hissy-paper cut sound. The grip is comfortable, the scabbard is nothing to boast of, but it holds the kindjal and has a shiny chape and throat collar of same metal. I think it is brass, but I will not confess to that. It could be brass coated something, but I just do not know.
The kindjal wiggles in the scabbard some. What I find VERY cheesy and gives me a grumpy face on is the chape is stapled onto the scabbard. Ugly. There is a set screw holding the throat collar brass that is flimsy looking. It appears that the throat collar of the scabbard can be reversed so the kindjal can be worn right-hipped. (it comes left hip ready) There are two brass lugs in the handle that index the hand to sit in the middle of the grip, and you can use them with a finger wrapped around the front one to get some intense whipping speed to a slice cut.
This Russian Kindjal is very lightweight and lightning fast in the slice. I do not know about side flex to the blade because I refuse to try that given that these kindjals have improper tempering, it will shatter on a side load force to the blade.
I am not going to bother Kult of Athena again with another return on this kindjal. I believe that the whole batch of Russian kindjals from Windlass Steelcrafts was tempered incorrectly, or they forgot to temper altogether! This steel is stupid hard, doing a "shade tree mechanic" -styled hardness test with an old carbide tooth from a circular saw blade reveals that the scratch and drag on the kindjal is at least HALF as pronounced as doing same against their Cobra Steel line (same maker).
DO NOT BUY THIS RUSSIAN KINDJAL UNTIL WINDLASS STEELCRAFTS FIGURES OUT HOW TO TEMPER THESE BLADES.
As it stands, this kindjal, being razor sharp, will work wonderfully lethal in fleshy targets, but against anything with any hardness or tough fibers, I feel this blade will catastrophically fail in those hit tests. Either the entire tip just past the fullers will shear off and leave you with a dagger sized kindjal, or the tippy tip will fracture off leaving you a tipless sword.
In conclusion, the kindjal geometry makes for a lethal and fast moving blade, length is quite utilitarian, and comfy grip. However, I believe this latest batch of kindjals are defective: the blades are thoroughly hardened, but temper is done incorrectly. If you buy this, hang it on the wall, or impress your friends with shaving paper into confetti, but do not engage any target harder than meat.
~Pyra