Indians For Guns

Does anyone own a knife made by N. V. Sikligar? They make fixed, as well as folders, and the steel seems to be exclusive Damascus. Would appreciate inputs on fit/finish, and blade strength (quality), before I go ahead and purchase one. Thanks in advance.

Amar, these are handmade and the fit and finish varies greatly. Katanaji's or Rajat are the experts in this domain, but these are purely display knives, impossible to get a decent edge, the edge is sometimes 3 to 4 mm thick, I tried and tried and gave up trying to get a decent edge on one.

Regards
Moin,

Moin. wrote:Amar, these are handmade and the fit and finish varies greatly. Katanaji's or Rajat are the experts in this domain, but these are purely display knives, impossible to get a decent edge, the edge is sometimes 3 to 4 mm thick, I tried and tried and gave up trying to get a decent edge on one.

Regards
Moin,

Eew! Thanks for the info, Moin. This means these are not hard-use gear as I thought from the photos. Disappointed, as I thought I've found a good knife maker in India!!! :-/

Just get me the guy's full name with whom you are dealing with. I'll get you the low down. None of the blade makers are in Udaipur proper. They are situated in surrounding areas and each guy has a particular finish and strength to his produce.

I do not have any experience with N V Sikligar but own similar knives made by others. Was able to find one.





A bit dusty. Sorry.

Leather sheath was an "after" job. German silver bolsters, full tang, Damascus, wood handles, steel pins, not sharp at all, got it sharpened afterwards, fit and finish was good. Not for field use, good for collection purposes.

Thats about all.

woaah ! i have knives which could be made by the actually sikalgar craftsmen, they are cheap and much better to these which cannot be used.

Rajat

Thats nice looking drop point knife

Best

Rajat wrote:I do not have any experience with N V Sikligar but own similar knives made by others. Was able to find one.
[...]
Leather sheath was an "after" job. German silver bolsters, full tang, Damascus, wood handles, steel pins, not sharp at all, got it sharpened afterwards, fit and finish was good. Not for field use, good for collection purposes.

Thats about all.

Any specific reason why it is not for field use? From the looks, it appears well made though.

@all: Thanks for the inputs, I'll probably pass Sikligar then.

Actually it is VERY well made and has a strong built. The handle offers an excellent grip. After some time I realized that it does not hold an edge as well as the other knives we are used to and the Damascus blade does not look as good after being scratched. The wood handle shows very strong evidence if it is put to rough use. This is all. No other complaints.

I being an avid collector of knives , ordered four different models after going through their site thoroughly. The knives did arrive but to my great disappointment , they seemed scaled down in proportion and out of proportion as well. The grips for example were pretty small for even an average hand like mine and there was no edge on any one of them as one member correctly mentioned. The Damascus blades seemed more like they were etched out with some kind of acid treatment on the surface.
The best way to find out a true Damascus steel is to inspect the back bone of the blade for Damascus pattern which sadly was missing in these knives. The fit and finish was pretty good but seemed the manufacturer had no clue about the steel or about the perimeters of a good knife design. He Probably copied the shapes from various pictures in books and magazines with no idea about the size and blade to grip ratio etc. To be fair to the person concerned, I had not paid him on delivery and returned all of them promptly with suggestions to improve upon the designs as I was still interested in them if he improved the designs. Never have heard from him since.
These knives I assume are basically meant for display/foreign market. I tried sharpening one of them and managed to do so with great difficulty but did not get to test it as I decided to returned them asap. All this happened almost 4 yrs ago, I hope and wish things have improved over the years.

Marksman

Marksman is right, I've handled a few of these Udaipur products as well and the blades are indeed etched using some sort of acid to give them a Damascus look. Never bought one, would rather spend my meagre budget on tools I can actually use!

Cheers!
Abhijeet

marksman wrote:The Damascus blades seemed more like they were etched out with some kind of acid treatment on the surface.
The best way to find out a true Damascus steel is to inspect the back bone of the blade for Damascus pattern which sadly was missing in these knives.

True damascus steel is wootz steel and obviously cannot be in a newly made blade.
These blades made in Rajasthan are pattern welded blades and in this process acid is commonly used as way of bringing out the pattern. The best of custom blade makers use it.The difference being these guys do it quite crudely and the finish is not the same.As for edges they mostly come with no bevel ground at all.You have to actually grind a bevel and put an edge on it yourself.If you take care while grinding the edge so as to not scratch the blade,polish off some of the excessively dark acid treatment, these can be pretty decent good looking knives for "light" use. But if you want to chop stuff or pry stuff then you can pass on them.
Regards,
Yaj.

N.V. Sikligar Inc., makes Fine Damascus & High Carbon Knives & Folders.

few of our importers from USA, UK, Australia etc are using NVS made Knives for Camping and Sporting.

curioshouse wrote:N.V. Sikligar Inc., makes Fine Damascus & High Carbon Knives & Folders.

few of our importers from USA, UK, Australia etc are using NVS made Knives for Camping and Sporting.

Noted Curioshouse, how about posting some good pictures of the blades . The pics and the prices in $ is quite misleading. I'm sure lot of people here will be interested to see, evaluate and purchase.

Regards
Moin.

Here is pics of NV Sikligar made Damascus Knives.