Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Maltese Knife

İçim, bir suskunsa tekin mi ola?
O Malta bıçağı, kınsız,uyanık,
Ve genç bir mısradır
Filinta endam...
Neden, neden alnındaki yıkkınlık, 
Bakışlarındaki öldüren buğu?

Ahmed ARİF " HANİ KURŞUN SIKSAN GEÇMEZ GECEDEN"

Did Petri used a similar knife... Similar Modern Knives sometimes has a Maltese Cross mark...

İstanbul Ansiklopedisi,  1878'de işlenmiş bir "emsali çok görülmüş" bir cinayet dolayısıyla "Kara Yannis"in meyhanesinden söz eder. Cinayetle ilgili bir haberi  1880 tarihli Sabah Gazetesi'den olduğu gibi aktarır. 1878 senesinde, Kara Yannis'in meyhanesinde çırak olarak çalışan "şabbı emret" (henüz sakalı bıyığı çıkmamış) Pandelis, meyhane kapısı önünde dururken kendisine "harf endazlık" ta bulunmuş (yani laf atmış) Fosforlu namıyla maruf "mükerrere eshabından" (sabıkalı takımından) Marko'ya bir tokat aşketmiş, Marko da "hamil olduğu maltız kaması marifetiyle cerh ve katil ve bilahare firar etmişdir". SOURCE




Maltese Knife SOURCE

These unique knives known as the "Gharb Blade" ( Sikkina Tal-Gharb in Maltese ) are named after a small village Gharb situated in Malta's small sister island of Gozo. This small village became famous for the manufacture of these knives because they where considered to be the best & sharpest knives in the Islands and are still considered so today.

These knives where traditionally made by craftsmen for many generations and the method was passed on from father to son.

Unfortunately throughout the years this traditional method has been lost to all but a one craftsman in Gharb who is still forging these knives the way his ancestors did. 

The Knife:

The knife is a fixed blade approximately 250mm long in total, approx. 125mm blade and approx. 125mm handle. The blade is about 25mm wide and about 1-1.5mm thick. Since each knife is individually forged the sizes may vary a few millimeters. The handle is round and slightly tapered and is hand turned out of Mahagony wood. The blade goes all the way through a hole in the handle and is secured by a copper ring on the blade side of the handle and is bent into the wood at the other side of the handle.

I do not know which kind of steel is used for the blade but it is slightly flexible, very sharp and stays sharp for very long. Unfortunately it also rusts.
I cannot be sure about this but i was told that the blade is forged out of steel file steel.

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