Kris cutlery Kampilan
Oct 31, 2009 19:20:02 GMT
Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2009 19:20:02 GMT
Kris cutlery Kampilan
Thana Sathirachinda
I discovered Kampilan from reading Petersen's handgun magazine (May 1989) .The article title " The.45 And the Moros A Myth exploded " by Jack Lott . The article left impression on me and I set out to obtain those principle weapons of the Moros (and a few .45 caliber pistols to counter them ) .Finding good sample of Kampilan was quite hard not until I discovered Kris cutlery
Kampilan is strange looking sword and little known in this part of the world but it did had quite interesting history and fascinating facts and tidbit about it . It was made famous by Iranun Moro pirates of Mindanao .It was believed to be the weapon that killed Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 during the battle of Mactan .Magellan was Portugess explored working for king of spain trying to find the route to spice islands in Indonesia when he was killed .It was very interesting that they were able to identified Kampilan among many other edge weapons that use in the battle and single it out as the weapon that slained Magellan . Kampilan was also weapon of choice of the Bugi or Buganese pirates that terrorized Dutch and English traders and many argue that the term "Boogey man " came from the English words "Bugi man "
I have this sword for quite sometime so I did not get an opportunity to take pictures of the shipping box but Kris cutlery has excellent reputation of speedy shipping and customer service so no surprise here
The Blade
27 inches of Spice island route seeker chopping edge with strange looking spikelet making it a fearsome looking sword. The blade taper down from the top and get narrower down at the handguard making it well balance
The close up of the spikelet and the tip .It doesn't look like an effective thruster or stabbing sword but the hook part look like it can pull out the intestine of the opponent if it get pass the clothing but I doubt that it was the intention of the spikelet and the hook
Handle,pommel and guard
The Ebony wood handle with very distinct shape of the pommel imitated the opened jaw of crococile .It has one pin that hold the tang of the sword (the sword glue to the handle ) .I wrap the twine to add more traction to the handle because I discovered that the bare Ebony wood is very slippery with sweaty palm or from water from the cut
Cecil shows me the trick at the knife show how the jaw of crocodile was use to get the blade up and ready in the defensive posture . The left palm slap or tab the curve jaw to get this handle spring up in action with out the move of wrist or arm
Scabbard
Just typical no nonsense Kris cuterly light brown color wooden scabbard. The blade rattle due to the narrow blade near the guard but I believe the antique kampilan will share the same rattle characteristic because I can not see the way to keep the blade lock in place
Specification
Weight : 2.5 pounds
Blade : 27 inches
Handle : 11 inches
OAL: 38 inches
POB : 6 inches from the guard
COP: 19 inches from the guard
Cutting test and handling
Kampilan from Kris cutlery is excellent cutter and while I doubt the akward shape pomel and handle and the straight blade I find that it is very easy to cut with .The light weight combine with the tapper blade making it very balance and agile sword in hand. The only complain is the squarish shape of the pommel has tendency to bang up on the left palm at the moment of impact (of cutting ) and there is only place that my left palm can go .I am pretty sure there is some Moro technique that deal with this but I have yet to find out
My targets represent the bottles that I use for cutting .The cut were clean and even tough Gatorade bottles are no match for this Kampilan . This is one sword that I can spend happy day off cutting pile of bottles with (and force me to make up some story at recycle place about all this cut up bottles )
Scoring
Pro - affordable blade at $165
- Excotic blade that will raise eye brown and question everytime "What the heck is this ?"
- Historic significant weapon ,it kind of gave birth to our belove M1911A1 ,.45 caliber pistol , it was prefer weapon of Boogey (Bugi) man
- Excellent craftmanship and super sharp blade
Con- The blade rattle in scabbard
- Strange pommel shape might hurt the palm of the off hand
- Blade glue and pin to handle so it is not the strongest sword out there
Bottom line and cautions
The tradition construction of this sword and the culture of its user means that this sword doesn't serve dual purpose other than being instrument of war ,it doesn't mean to be use for chopping tree , woods or brush so any extreme tortur test of this blade will result in broken blade , cracked handle and God forbid the destruction of the tester himself . It has, however, proven battle record as far back as 500 years and it was sure put a fear in to the heart of the enemies .It is part of Philipines and her long history of struggle and persevered . Now I will go to experience more pleasant part of Philippines like Fresh Lumpia and Buca Pandan after all this battle against those Spice traders and Pirates
Thana Sathirachinda
I discovered Kampilan from reading Petersen's handgun magazine (May 1989) .The article title " The.45 And the Moros A Myth exploded " by Jack Lott . The article left impression on me and I set out to obtain those principle weapons of the Moros (and a few .45 caliber pistols to counter them ) .Finding good sample of Kampilan was quite hard not until I discovered Kris cutlery
Kampilan is strange looking sword and little known in this part of the world but it did had quite interesting history and fascinating facts and tidbit about it . It was made famous by Iranun Moro pirates of Mindanao .It was believed to be the weapon that killed Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 during the battle of Mactan .Magellan was Portugess explored working for king of spain trying to find the route to spice islands in Indonesia when he was killed .It was very interesting that they were able to identified Kampilan among many other edge weapons that use in the battle and single it out as the weapon that slained Magellan . Kampilan was also weapon of choice of the Bugi or Buganese pirates that terrorized Dutch and English traders and many argue that the term "Boogey man " came from the English words "Bugi man "
I have this sword for quite sometime so I did not get an opportunity to take pictures of the shipping box but Kris cutlery has excellent reputation of speedy shipping and customer service so no surprise here
The Blade
27 inches of Spice island route seeker chopping edge with strange looking spikelet making it a fearsome looking sword. The blade taper down from the top and get narrower down at the handguard making it well balance
The close up of the spikelet and the tip .It doesn't look like an effective thruster or stabbing sword but the hook part look like it can pull out the intestine of the opponent if it get pass the clothing but I doubt that it was the intention of the spikelet and the hook
Handle,pommel and guard
The Ebony wood handle with very distinct shape of the pommel imitated the opened jaw of crococile .It has one pin that hold the tang of the sword (the sword glue to the handle ) .I wrap the twine to add more traction to the handle because I discovered that the bare Ebony wood is very slippery with sweaty palm or from water from the cut
Cecil shows me the trick at the knife show how the jaw of crocodile was use to get the blade up and ready in the defensive posture . The left palm slap or tab the curve jaw to get this handle spring up in action with out the move of wrist or arm
Scabbard
Just typical no nonsense Kris cuterly light brown color wooden scabbard. The blade rattle due to the narrow blade near the guard but I believe the antique kampilan will share the same rattle characteristic because I can not see the way to keep the blade lock in place
Specification
Weight : 2.5 pounds
Blade : 27 inches
Handle : 11 inches
OAL: 38 inches
POB : 6 inches from the guard
COP: 19 inches from the guard
Cutting test and handling
Kampilan from Kris cutlery is excellent cutter and while I doubt the akward shape pomel and handle and the straight blade I find that it is very easy to cut with .The light weight combine with the tapper blade making it very balance and agile sword in hand. The only complain is the squarish shape of the pommel has tendency to bang up on the left palm at the moment of impact (of cutting ) and there is only place that my left palm can go .I am pretty sure there is some Moro technique that deal with this but I have yet to find out
My targets represent the bottles that I use for cutting .The cut were clean and even tough Gatorade bottles are no match for this Kampilan . This is one sword that I can spend happy day off cutting pile of bottles with (and force me to make up some story at recycle place about all this cut up bottles )
Scoring
Pro - affordable blade at $165
- Excotic blade that will raise eye brown and question everytime "What the heck is this ?"
- Historic significant weapon ,it kind of gave birth to our belove M1911A1 ,.45 caliber pistol , it was prefer weapon of Boogey (Bugi) man
- Excellent craftmanship and super sharp blade
Con- The blade rattle in scabbard
- Strange pommel shape might hurt the palm of the off hand
- Blade glue and pin to handle so it is not the strongest sword out there
Bottom line and cautions
The tradition construction of this sword and the culture of its user means that this sword doesn't serve dual purpose other than being instrument of war ,it doesn't mean to be use for chopping tree , woods or brush so any extreme tortur test of this blade will result in broken blade , cracked handle and God forbid the destruction of the tester himself . It has, however, proven battle record as far back as 500 years and it was sure put a fear in to the heart of the enemies .It is part of Philipines and her long history of struggle and persevered . Now I will go to experience more pleasant part of Philippines like Fresh Lumpia and Buca Pandan after all this battle against those Spice traders and Pirates