Devil’s Edge – Damascus Qama / Kindjal

I purchased this sword to accessorize a Renaissance Faire outfit that I have and I wanted to share my experience with it.

It’s a very sturdy blade with little flexibility, definitely a thruster. It can certainly cut/chop as well, the point of balance is several inches forward of the grip and the fairly short, stout blade concentrates force well. The sword came plenty sharp, it could cut printer paper easily, but it wasn’t quite sharp enough to cut receipt paper. The grinds are even and clean, and the point is *very* pointy. The Damascus steel is beautiful and matches the “magical” look I wanted out of this sword.

The grip is the weakest part of the sword, in my opinion. The gray laminate looks nice and the conical studs don’t get in the way, but the edges aren’t completely even, the edges are also squared off and somewhat uncomfortable in some grip positions. I’m not sure how the grip scales are attached to the blade, but they have not loosened after light cutting and chopping tests.

The sheath is basic, but it serves the purpose of holding the sword and securing it safely. I do not use the baldric belt that the sword came with, only the belt loop. Retention is medium, the sword won’t slide out on it’s own, but it can be shaken out with little effort. It came with a snap closure that goes around the grip, I recommend using that to help keep the sword in place.

Overall, I’m happy with this purchase, I would recommend this to others looking for a budget friendly short sword. Although I’m using this as a costume piece, I could definitely see this being used for actual short sword tasks.

For the price, it’s a very nice Kinjal, reminiscing a Circassian style of a dagger, though at certain times in history they were popular with a curved balde, as was more of a fashion in the east, but this is a classic, Roman Gladius’ inspired blade, with origins back to the 3rd Century BC, except before widespread usage of steel, they were made with bronze and other alloys.

A symbol of a free-man/woman. Culturally it has a lot of significance, from martial arts to marriage ceremonies. A trusty side-arm along with a saber / Shashka.

Yes, it’s a bit rough around the edges, but overall it is quite sharp and symmetrical. I would imagine it looks and functions better than a lot of the actual historical examples survived to this day, due to the advanced modern metallurgy and machining. In fact, a bit of mild asymmetry in places makes it look more like a hand-made piece, which I, personally, appreciate. A great match for a Cossack/Circassian-Adyge and Caucasus Region’s tribes’ costumes. Though Kinjal was popular in Ancient Rus’ & Tsarist Rus’, and outside of the Caucasus Region, too, for many centuries.

The sheath is part real leather, part synth leather, but dual stitching makes it quite strongly built. If a bit of the white strings used in the stitching is loose — just blast it with a lighter for a moment. The tip of the scabbard came a tiny bit bent, likely from prolonged storage, but it doesn’t affect the performance. The packing itself was impressive though.

The sling that comes with the scabbard is made of real leather. Star motifs on the brass-like studs are nice touches, though stars may be questionable motifs, they are too small to stand out anyway. The buckle is also made to look liked aged brass, but there’s probably way more tin there than copper, it seems sturdy enough for serious wear, the Kinjal being a lighter sword helps (at least dimensions’ wise it seems to be more like a short sword than a dagger). Just please take some time and thoroughly oil both the blade and the scabbard/sling. The leather is very dry and you can prolong its life-span significantly with some oil that doesn’t go rancid. Wood cutting block mixture of microwax and oil, food grade — is a good option. I also used some gun oil. But any oil that doesn’t go rancid will do. If you plan to wear it outside in adverse weather it’s a must. Also pig’s fat was also historically was used to create an environmental shield (as well as lubricate the hinges lol).

The handle is not super-slick and it helps with a grip, without it seeming cracked or having too deep of grains. The stainless steel, I suppose, “knobs” are quite more sturdy than historical copper or brass ones. Of course there were heavily decorated Kinjal made with silver, gold and encrusted gems. This is more of a utilitarian version. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

The “Damascus” steel is quite nice! Which was the biggest positive surprise for me. I expected it being only on the surface, purely decorative in nature. It’s likely forge wielded mid-carbon and higher-carbon steels, and the the visual effect goes beyond the surface, which is very cool. It’s not the most sturdy blade, in comparison with some made from modern alloy steels, but it will do the job just fine. The blade is quite thick and there’s 0 wobble to it, quite stiff, as it’s supposed to be to help with piercing through armor and softer spots of the armor. As I said, even being forge-wielded from two types of mediocre carbon steels, it’s still likely stronger than most survived historical samples, sometimes made from crucible steel, sometimes forge-wielded, but the impurities and the quality overall very much varied from bad to somewhat decent (especially if the steel was imported from India and other regions with advanced metallurgy for the time-period). Modern OK “Damscus” would be better than most average dagger steels of pre-modern history, so no worries about the sturdiness portion.

I, personally, think it’s a great Kinjal for the price, just needs some initial maintenance with oil and wax. It came sharp, but can be made sharper if you hone the blade with a 10,000 grain stone, though it’s only if you plan to practice with it on targets, but even without, it’s still quite sharp. It will also give the edge a nice polished shine. Oil the blade to keep the rust away. Oil it few times, as the inner part of the scabbard is very dry and will “drink” all the initial oil away.

I am happy with the purchase. Yes, it’s a bit rough around the edges, but I’ve seen much worse examples. It’s a good Kinjal for the price. It being “rough around the edges” — is not exactly bad when someone tries to look historically accurate.