Review: Taksali Kirpan Shastars, Indian arms -- myArmoury.com

Ian Hutchison

I have just received an order from Taksali Kirpan Shastars in a bid to scratch my itch for Indian weapons. I ordered a pulwar, a peshkabz, a katar, and a dhal. The dhal was already in stock, all the other items were made for me. The proprietor, Bikramjit Singh, estimated it would take two months to complete the order and he was spot on, well done. I found Mr. Singh very friendly, and communication was excellent. He replies to messages very quickly. Shipping from India was mixed, on the one hand we ended up waiting quite some time for the courier to send the package (they were worried about it making it through customs), however once it was sent it reached Louisiana in just three days via FedEx. All the items were very well wrapped and packed.

Below is the complete order:

The peshkabz is my favorite blade. It feels very right in terms of balance and ergonomics. The blade is well executed with strong, clean lines. . The grip is not the prettiest, being constructed of several pieces of bones rather than a single piece, but I have seen many originals made this way too. I may one day replace it with grips made from black buffalo scales.

Blade length is 10", overall is 15"
Weight is 270g/9.5oz
PoB is right behind the ferrule.

The katar was made to my hand width and fits perfectly, with a nice tight grip. The blade features shikargar (hunting scene) engraving, while the grip has silver work. The steel has very interesting patterning, I am guessing it it made of a folded steel of some type. My only ding against it would be the edges on the side bars could be a little more rounded, and some tool marks can be seen beneath the silvering on the grip bars.

Blade length is 10"

The dhal was in stock and I added it to my order on a whim. It is 12" in diameter and features shikargar engraving. It has an antiqued finish of browned steel. The weight on it is excellent. However, the backing and straps are not to my liking (a modern cloth) and I will replace them (with thin goat leather). Another thing to add to my growing list of projects.

Now we come to the pulwar. This was the the reason behind the order in the first place; I have been wanting a pulwar based on an original piece to do some cutting with. The sword I received seems well made, it has a nice figure in profile, the lines are generally even and true, the fullers are nice. However, it is far too heavy, coming in at ~1280g. We had talked about a weight of 800-900g and that was agreed to be readily achievable. Unfortunately it is very overweight. The culprit seems to be lack of distal taper, it starts at 6-7mm and the base and stays constant until the last ten inches of the blade, when it thins greatly.

Blade: 31"
Overall: 36"
PoB: 8" from guard

I should also add; all of the blades came with sheaths included in the price. Those for the knives were great, but the sword scabbard has a slightly off fit at the throat.

It was a pleasure to work with Mr. Singh, his prices are fair, and he works quickly, so I think I will give him another chance and order a replacement blade for the pulwar grip (Indian blades are retained with lac, so easy to change), with more emphasis on taper etc. I also look forward to ordering a tegha (his specialty I believe), and a custom chilanum.

Paul Hansen · Posted: Fri 04 Sep, 2020 12:09 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the review, the pieces look lovely.

But isn't that pulwar a bit long in the hilt/grip area?

Also, have you thought about returning it because of the weight rather than ordering a new blade for it? (without guarantee that that one will hit the specified weight, apparently?)

Ian Hutchison · Posted: Fri 04 Sep, 2020 4:33 pm Post subject:

Ian Hutchison · Posted: Thu 12 Nov, 2020 8:20 pm Post subject:

Just received my new shipment, packaging was excellent. Shipping speed was very good again.

The daggers/knives are all excellent. They feel right and seem well finished. The Chilanum and Peshkabz at the bottom of the grouping are my favorites of the new lot.

The sword blades are okay, but not what I was looking for. The double fullered blade was meant to be a replacement for the one in my last order, same form but more in accordance with my desired stats. Unfortunately, it is only slightly different than the previous one.

The two golia blades and the shashka feel very good in the hand, they are not too heavy (about 600-620g for the golia, 850g for the shashka), but they still lack good distal taper. If they had that they would be excellent. I tried to emphasize and illustrate this, but it did not seem to catch which is strange since all the peshkabz I've received have excellent taper.

All in all, still pleased. Good value for money and an especially nice option if you are looking for daggers/knives.

Ian Hutchison · Posted: Sat 02 Jan, 2021 3:53 pm Post subject:

Mounted up one of the new blades. It is really excellent, ~630g and 5in PoB. Very pleased with this one.

Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz · Posted: Mon 04 Jan, 2021 11:59 am Post subject:

Cool cool stuff, IH. In what few sword forums I wonder around in one rarely sees these
types of weapons ...

Years ago I purchased an antique firangi -- I have no idea what its true value is -- but
I thought it a very unique item. Even thought about using it as a template of sorts
for a commission ... Sadly, while I followed through with other saber-oriented projects,
I never did this one.

I looked up some of this company / person's other work and -- unless I'm off base with
what I saw -- the variety and finish of said items are very impressive.

Ian Hutchison · Posted: Tue 05 Jan, 2021 5:26 pm Post subject: