help is this a real damascus kindjal ?

Philip · 29th December 2004, 08:19 AM

Photos #1 and #2 appear to be of blades with a contrived damascus effect created with a resist (such as shellac) that is scraped away in places to create the design, then etched so that the protected areas stand proud and polished when the remaining resist is removed after the process is complete.

Photo #3 looks to be the real McCoy, i.e. a "twisted core" pattern-weld which the process seen in #1 and #2 is intended to imitate. The "flow" of the pattern looks right to me, and I note that on the borders of the narrow fullers, you can see a slight serrated or dentate effect, caused when the etching compound (an acid) ate past the resist covering the bevels. I also see a diagonal mark which looks like a lamination flaw (a cold-shut) which seems to follow the diagonal orientation of one of the twisted cores [although smiths attempt to locate the twisted cores as closely as they can to the area occupied by the fullers, they sometimes end up in a wider zone than originally anticipated; I have noticed this in my experience in polishing twist core blades from various cultures].

29th December 2004, 08:19 AM	#7
Philip Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: California Posts: 1,036	Photos #1 and #2 appear to be of blades with a contrived damascus effect created with a resist (such as shellac) that is scraped away in places to create the design, then etched so that the protected areas stand proud and polished when the remaining resist is removed after the process is complete. Photo #3 looks to be the real McCoy, i.e. a "twisted core" pattern-weld which the process seen in #1 and #2 is intended to imitate. The "flow" of the pattern looks right to me, and I note that on the borders of the narrow fullers, you can see a slight serrated or dentate effect, caused when the etching compound (an acid) ate past the resist covering the bevels. I also see a diagonal mark which looks like a lamination flaw (a cold-shut) which seems to follow the diagonal orientation of one of the twisted cores [although smiths attempt to locate the twisted cores as closely as they can to the area occupied by the fullers, they sometimes end up in a wider zone than originally anticipated; I have noticed this in my experience in polishing twist core blades from various cultures].