Hand-Forged Curved Kindjal, Long Fuller

Yes, but the curved one. Kindjal — also qama, khanjali or kama — is the family name for the belt-worn dagger and short sword of the Caucasus, and the form everyone pictures is straight and double-edged. That is the classic article and we make it: see our straight kindjal.

The family also has a curved member. The Russians called it the bebut, regulated it for service in the early twentieth century and issued it to artillery and machine-gun crews who needed a short blade that would not foul on equipment. It is the same family, the same carry, the same purpose, with a curved blade instead of a straight one. That is what this is, and the dimensions here sit almost exactly on the historical bebut: 45.7 centimetres of blade against the regulation 44.

The curve, and everything that follows from it. A straight double-edged kindjal is built around the thrust: symmetrical, stiff, a point driven straight forward. This blade sweeps, which trades some of that thrusting authority for a cut that keeps the edge working through the arc rather than stopping dead against what it hits.

There is a second difference worth knowing: this one is heavier. Our straight kindjal of the same 18 inch blade length runs around 635 grams. This is 850. If you want the lighter, quicker piece, the straight one is it. If you want the blade with more presence and more cut behind it, this is.

The standard build is single-edged, with the long fuller running down the upper half of the blade and the back left plain. That suits the curve: on a sweeping blade the working edge does nearly all of the cutting and a second edge mostly gives you more to maintain.

Historical bebuts were commonly made with the back sharpened for the last few inches toward the point, which makes the tip cut on a back stroke. We will grind that back edge for you at no extra cost — say so in the order note. Note that in some jurisdictions a second sharpened edge changes how a blade is classified regardless of how short it is, which is the other reason we leave it off the standard build.

Weight, mostly. A fuller is a groove forged or ground along the blade that removes steel from the middle of the section, where it contributes least to stiffness, leaving the material near the spine and the edge where it does the most work. The result is a blade that is lighter than its dimensions suggest without giving up much rigidity.

What it is emphatically not is a blood groove. That is the most durable myth in the knife world and it has no basis: a fuller does not break suction, does not help a blade withdraw, and was never intended to. Our terminology page covers fullers and the rest of the vocabulary properly. On this blade the fuller is single, long and narrow, and it is one of the more attractive things about the piece.

850 grams with an 18 inch blade, which is about 47 grams per inch of blade. Two comparisons are worth having. Against our own straight kindjal at the same blade length, this is roughly a third heavier. Against the Russian service bebut, which came in near 450 grams, it is close to double.

That is a build decision rather than an accident, and it cuts both ways. What you get is a blade that is very difficult to damage and has real authority behind the cut. What you pay is quickness, and the fact that an 850 gram blade on a 7 inch handle is a substantial thing to hold. If you want it closer to the service weight, ask for thinner stock and more distal taper and we will build it that way at no extra cost.

The standard build carries an 18 inch blade and a 7 inch handle, 25 inches overall. That is a default rather than a fixed specification — every blade we make is forged after the order, so the dimensions are yours.

The historical bebut sat at about 17 inches of blade, so the standard build is already very close to period. Shorter takes it toward a large belt knife; longer takes it toward short-sword territory and changes how it carries. Tell us the number in the order note and we will build the sheath to suit.

Rosewood as standard, shaped and pinned through the tang with brass, with a brass bolster where the handle meets the blade and a swelled butt that stops the hand running off the back. Rosewood is our default across the range: dense, hard, dimensionally stable and about as handsome as timber gets.

Worth noting that the historical article did it differently. Caucasian kindjal hilts are usually guardless and waisted — narrow in the middle, flaring at both ends, with big domed rivets and no bolster at all. Ours is a working handle rather than a copy of that pattern. If you want the traditional waisted horn hilt, we will forge one; it is a custom build and we will quote it.

Yes, sharpened along the full working edge and ready to use, unless you tell us otherwise. The fine drawn-out point is finished carefully, because it is the part most likely to be damaged by careless handling and the part that makes the blade look the way it does.

Unsharpened builds are free, for display or for an awkward import. So is a stage combat build — rebated edge, rounded tip — balanced for the work. Add that exact wording to your order note.

5160 high-carbon spring steel, which we use across the whole range. The blade is forged to shape, quenched, and then tempered back by hand as a separate operation afterwards. Those two steps are distinct, and the second is what matters: quenching alone leaves a blade hard and brittle, and tempering trades a little hardness for the toughness that keeps a long fine point in one piece.

5160 is not stainless and is not meant to be. It rusts if left damp, and in exchange it takes and keeps an edge far better than any stainless we could sensibly forge. We do not make pattern-welded or laminated blades at all, by choice.

A black leather sheath shaped to the curve of the blade, with a laced panel over the throat set with brass eyelets, a brass-fitted retaining strap and a belt arrangement. It is built to the blade rather than to a pattern, which matters on a curved blade: a sheath cut to a straight profile will not take this one.

The Caucasian way of carrying a kindjal is horizontally across the front of the belt rather than hanging at the hip, which is worth knowing if you want the carry to look right. Our sheath will do either. If you want a dedicated front-carry rig, a different colour, or a wall mount cut to this blade's outline, those are custom forge items and we will quote them.

Not of a specific piece, no. The blade dimensions land almost exactly on the Russian regulation bebut and the fuller arrangement is in keeping, but the handle is a working rosewood pattern rather than the waisted guardless Caucasian hilt, the bolster is not a historical feature, and the weight is well above the service article.

So: a genuine historical form, built our way, and we would rather say that than claim a lineage it does not have. If you want something closer to a documented piece — a waisted horn hilt, a period weight, a silver-mounted scabbard — ask and we will quote it against your reference.

Nothing is held in stock. Every blade is forged after the order arrives, which is why the dimensions, the edge arrangement, the handle material and the finish are all free to change — there is no standard version already made. Standard builds dispatch in 2 to 3 business days; genuinely custom work runs 4 to 6 weeks depending on the queue.

It ships sheathed and braced in a rigid carton, by DHL or FedEx with tracking, typically 7 to 14 business days from Kathmandu. Import duty and local taxes are the buyer's responsibility and vary by country.