My brother bought an old '88 car to fix up, and we brought it back Monday. Today he was cleaning it up, and he just came in and handed me a fairly large knife in a leather sheath, and said, "Look what I found under the front seat".

Not being heavily into knives, I was wondering if anyone could maybe identify what kind it is, and what use the odd shape might be for. Sorry, I don't have photo capability.

The overall length is 12.25". The cutting blade is 6.5", is thicker in the center (lengthwise) and has a definite wavy shape on both sides. This not what I would call serrated at all; the blade is wavy like looking down on a snake ~~ about three "waves" per side. The metal of the blade is one piece, and goes right through and past the end of the wooden handle.

Stamped into the center (approx) of the blade is "Stainless Pakistan".

The guard is 3.5" across, and 3/16" thick, sort of in the shape of a pair of extended bat wings, with a V notched into the lower part of each 'wing'.

The handle is very common-looking, made of two pieces of reddish (stained?) wood with the metal sandwiched in between, with three metal almost-quarter-inch 'spots' holding the wood to the metal.

The back end of the knife past the wood handle extends a little over .75" and splays out into a modified cross shape with a hole in it. The top of the 'cross' is modified into just a sort of rounded point.

I'm not even suggesting that this is some rare and valuable knife, but we are just curious as to what kind of design it might be, and what that funny wavy blade would be used for.

Thanks for any information you might be able to provide.

Sue

It sounds like a Kris Knife from the description as they have wavy blade, but without a picture it's just a guess.

Kris Knives in Indonesia were mainly ceremonial/ritualistic if I remember my art history correctly. That isn't to say that they weren't utilized as tools or weapons though, because they certainly were, but rather that the wave was more for aesthetics than functionality.

However, the blade style wasn't isolated to that area. As you mentioned, the blade is stamped Pakistan, and I've seen blades in that style in the museum from many parts of the world. Anyway, there may be other reasoning behind the wavy shape depending on area and intended use.

Almost certainly a "fantasy knife", which is intended more for wall hanging among mall goths than actually using.

Did it look something like silly hunk a junk:
http://www.blacksword.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=70&products_id=108

Maybe, but I went to Google Images and looked at a dozen pages under 'kris knife', and there was nothing that had a handle like this. All those were far more fancy than this one. This is more plain, more 'workaday' than what I saw there.

This looks like something you'd pick up on the 'sale table' in a bazaar in the Middle East or somewhere, if you wanted to kill someone and didn't want to waste any money on them.

Might be something like a cheap Frost knock-off or similar.

I wouldn't put much value in it regardless, but without the photos or more identifying info, it is really a blind assumption. It certainly doesn't sound like it has any relic value.

Maybe the knife is for a practical purpose, just not something most people would use it for. There are a fair number of pagan groups who still practice animal sacrifice. If the knife looks functional, rather than for display, it could have been used ceremonially.

Then again, someone could have just picked it up because they liked the curve of the blade

it's a kris style.. if it was under the seat of an old car i
would say it's a "redneck toad stabber"

Not that you need a really sharp edge for toad stabbing, but has anyone ever tried to actually sharpen the edges of a kris type blade? Seems like it would take a whole new technique...

You'd have to use a narrow stone, or a rod. I know that the very dramatic waves are a modern affectation- historically a kris or European flamberge has a fairly low "amplitude" to it's wave, undoubtedly for that reason.

Seems like more trouble than they are worth...

The flamberge probably was, they never were very common. The waves in the kris, IIRC, were ceremonial/religous in nature.