petermorwood:peashooter85:Gold decorated tulwar, The Punjab (India), early 19th centuryfrom The Roya
petermorwood:peashooter85:Gold decorated tulwar, The Punjab (India), early 19th centuryfrom The Royal Ontario MuseumThat’s very pretty, and at the same time remains a thoroughly effective fighting sword. The ornamentation is called “koftgari”, and is done by heating the steel, crosshatching it to provide a keyed surface, lightly scribing a desired pattern, pressing gold or silver wire into place, heating again then smoothing and polishing with a stone burnisher such as agate.Here’s koftgari decoration in progress.Indo-Persian hilts are usually secured with heated resin rather than rivets, and I remember reading somewhere that this allowed a single blade to have several different hilts ranging from plain to fancy to outright ostentatious. Certainly that’s how these daggers are assembled, but if swapping hilts was a common occurrence, it’s something I haven’t been able to confirm.Certainly historical or quality repro Indian sword hilts - like Japanese tsuba guards and menuki grip-ornaments - are collectibles in their own right. Here are some examples of how their finish can escalate, starting with plain steel:Chiselled steel:Polished steel and koftgari details:Koftgari over steel (or bronze or copper):Enamel and diamonds:Gold leaf and diamonds:Gold leaf, diamonds, rubies and emeralds:For all their flamboyance, even the most ornate hilts might be mounted on wickedly effective wootz steel blades. Bling, yes, but bling with a bite. :->--source link
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