Traditional Filipino Weapons - Kris #3
Dec 14, 2008 20:41:07 GMT
Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2008 20:41:07 GMT
Ha, I got this finished, finally. And it's still in time; you can buy Christmas gifts, and I'm catching my plane on Monday.
Traditional Filipino Weapons Kris #3 by Cara P.
As I already said, the Sansibar would be just the first of many acquisitions from Ron (traditionalfilipinoweapons.com). So here it is, the Kris #3. With its curved, flamed blade and unusual “guard” it got Skallagrim and me instantly interested and I was happily tearing open the package soon after. Ron is sending the packages nearly faster than you can pay him.
As always the heavily oiled blade came securely packed in bubble wrap and was a delight to look at from the first second:
Figures:
Blade length (without guard): 47 cm /18.5 inch
Blade width: 3,2 - 4 cm / 1.26 – 1.57 inch
Hilt length: 8 cm/3.15 inch gripping space and 12,5 cm/ 4.9 inch total
Overall: 64 cm / 25.2 inch
Guard width: 11,5 cm / 4.5 inch
POB (from grip): 14,5 cm/ 5.7 inch
Weight: 780 g / 1 lb 11.5 ounces
Scabbard:
Length: 54,5 cm / 21.5 inch
Width: 5,3 - 6 cm / 2.1 – 2.36 inch
Weight: 270 g / 9.5 ounces
The Hilt
…is plain beautiful. No really, the dark wood is shiningly polished and fitted with a brass band, which makes the perfect contrast. It is anatomically formed to fit your hand and curved into a hook to prevent you from sliding over the end. It is nearly impossible to lose this sword while swinging.
While I don’t know how the Kris is constructed there is a brass rivet on the grip that is likely to at least partly secure the blade to the hilt. The other guess is an unidentifiable material that seems to be poured into the grip and thereby holding the tang fast in place:
I am afraid I have bad news for all guys with big hands; the Kris features a very small grip. It works fine for me or Skallagrim, but our hands are nearly the same size and as you heard Skallagrim repeatedly saying, he has small paws. As you can see his hand covers the grip completely:
The Guard
This is definitely the most unusual part and the obvious eye catcher on this weapon. In contrast to other swords the guard is a part of the blade itself. The two sides are asymmetrical and decorated with brass fittings. Both sides have ridges on them, maybe to trap another blade while parrying. One side is big enough to cover your fingers while the other protects your hand up to the wrist.
But it is still small enough not to dig into your arm while being swung, so go on. We all know that we like to whirl our precious through the air…
The Blade
As is easily seen the blade is flamed but becomes straight near the tip to ease thrusting. Furthermore the width of the blade varies greatly as the waves are not perfectly aligned, thereby making the blade slimmer at some and wider in other places, thinning ever so softly towards the tip. This is not as needle pointy as the sansibar’s but does still a decent job because of the bigger impact power. Further facilitated by the fascinating feature that the blade thickens directly beneath the tip and the (apparent) fuller gives way to a central ridge:
What looks like a fuller in most pictures is in fact only slightly concave and quite sturdy. This makes the Kris extremely robust and inflexible.
Another interesting feature is that the blade isn’t straight but actually curved towards the ground, making downwards cuts viciously effective:
The Scabbard
Made out of two perfectly fitted pieces of wood, it contrasts greatly with the grip because of its light color. From the mouth to the end it decreases slightly in wideness, thereby imitating the blade. Maybe you ask yourself how the unusual guard fits on top of the scabbard. Well, it is inserted into the scabbard. The mouth has three different levels so that the blade is covered while the guard sticks out to both sides:
Below that is a carved line, too small to hold the scabbard at your belt so my guess is decoration. As well as the three stripes of rattan wound around the wood in molds. Why? I wouldn’t think they would be glued to the scabbard if they held the whole construction together.
The scabbard fits tightly enough to hold the Kris in place when turned upside down. And withstands even a bit of shaking, but you should of course not try to drop it on your foot voluntarily.
I want to mention that the scabbard is very sturdy, I fell unto it while losing my footing on ice and it has not even a scratch. Not to mention that it protected me from the blade inside it… so much for safety.
Handling/Testing
The handling is actually the only down point of this wicked sword, at least for me. I don’t know where exactly the problem lies, maybe because the weapon is for its small size quite heavy or the sheer impact force it produces, but I find it difficult to use it with as much ease as other weapons.
While I can still cut targets without sending them flying through the air, this still happens (not shown in video to save my spleen ;D) and when you thrust at a target with a lot of resistance the guard digs itself into your hand, save but ouch!
But let the performance give a better image than my grumbling:
As you can see this little monster cuts and hacks its way through whatever stands between it and the glimmering beauty of sunshine on metal. You have to get used to the way it behaves but this isn’t as hard as for example cutting with a pole arm (yes, I’m looking in the direction of my Pu Dao, argh).
Milk cartons, Pringles tubes, the enemy! ergo plastic bottles, cardboard as well as frozen wood and (half frozen) tatami mats are no problem for the Kris. You can have a lot of fun with this little work horse without damaging it in any possible way.
Ah, and it cuts paper, too! Didn’t go into the video, I mean, we all know how that looks and the nice sound it makes… okay okay, we’ll put it back into the next video again.
Conclusion and SBG Ratings
This little beauty is hiding what a monstrous weapon it actually is. While the blade is considerably shorter than what most of us are used to, the Kris performs no less effective than a much bigger weapon (even including the apparent overweight in the blade ).
So, if you like an exotic weapon and have a heart for shorties you’ll be absolutely happy with this sword. That’s at least my guess as I would recommend it to you.
Historical Accuracy: 5/5 (there are a lot of different types out there, I’m sure it fits at least one)
Fit and Finish: 5/5 (strikingly exact and beautiful)
Handling: 4/5 (not for everyone, I’d guess, but good enough)
Structural Integrity: 5/5 (sturdy little beast)
Value for Money: 5/5 (below 200$, how low could one go for that quality?)
OVERALL: 5/5
Traditional Filipino Weapons Kris #3 by Cara P.
As I already said, the Sansibar would be just the first of many acquisitions from Ron (traditionalfilipinoweapons.com). So here it is, the Kris #3. With its curved, flamed blade and unusual “guard” it got Skallagrim and me instantly interested and I was happily tearing open the package soon after. Ron is sending the packages nearly faster than you can pay him.
As always the heavily oiled blade came securely packed in bubble wrap and was a delight to look at from the first second:
Figures:
Blade length (without guard): 47 cm /18.5 inch
Blade width: 3,2 - 4 cm / 1.26 – 1.57 inch
Hilt length: 8 cm/3.15 inch gripping space and 12,5 cm/ 4.9 inch total
Overall: 64 cm / 25.2 inch
Guard width: 11,5 cm / 4.5 inch
POB (from grip): 14,5 cm/ 5.7 inch
Weight: 780 g / 1 lb 11.5 ounces
Scabbard:
Length: 54,5 cm / 21.5 inch
Width: 5,3 - 6 cm / 2.1 – 2.36 inch
Weight: 270 g / 9.5 ounces
The Hilt
…is plain beautiful. No really, the dark wood is shiningly polished and fitted with a brass band, which makes the perfect contrast. It is anatomically formed to fit your hand and curved into a hook to prevent you from sliding over the end. It is nearly impossible to lose this sword while swinging.
While I don’t know how the Kris is constructed there is a brass rivet on the grip that is likely to at least partly secure the blade to the hilt. The other guess is an unidentifiable material that seems to be poured into the grip and thereby holding the tang fast in place:
I am afraid I have bad news for all guys with big hands; the Kris features a very small grip. It works fine for me or Skallagrim, but our hands are nearly the same size and as you heard Skallagrim repeatedly saying, he has small paws. As you can see his hand covers the grip completely:
The Guard
This is definitely the most unusual part and the obvious eye catcher on this weapon. In contrast to other swords the guard is a part of the blade itself. The two sides are asymmetrical and decorated with brass fittings. Both sides have ridges on them, maybe to trap another blade while parrying. One side is big enough to cover your fingers while the other protects your hand up to the wrist.
But it is still small enough not to dig into your arm while being swung, so go on. We all know that we like to whirl our precious through the air…
The Blade
As is easily seen the blade is flamed but becomes straight near the tip to ease thrusting. Furthermore the width of the blade varies greatly as the waves are not perfectly aligned, thereby making the blade slimmer at some and wider in other places, thinning ever so softly towards the tip. This is not as needle pointy as the sansibar’s but does still a decent job because of the bigger impact power. Further facilitated by the fascinating feature that the blade thickens directly beneath the tip and the (apparent) fuller gives way to a central ridge:
What looks like a fuller in most pictures is in fact only slightly concave and quite sturdy. This makes the Kris extremely robust and inflexible.
Another interesting feature is that the blade isn’t straight but actually curved towards the ground, making downwards cuts viciously effective:
The Scabbard
Made out of two perfectly fitted pieces of wood, it contrasts greatly with the grip because of its light color. From the mouth to the end it decreases slightly in wideness, thereby imitating the blade. Maybe you ask yourself how the unusual guard fits on top of the scabbard. Well, it is inserted into the scabbard. The mouth has three different levels so that the blade is covered while the guard sticks out to both sides:
Below that is a carved line, too small to hold the scabbard at your belt so my guess is decoration. As well as the three stripes of rattan wound around the wood in molds. Why? I wouldn’t think they would be glued to the scabbard if they held the whole construction together.
The scabbard fits tightly enough to hold the Kris in place when turned upside down. And withstands even a bit of shaking, but you should of course not try to drop it on your foot voluntarily.
I want to mention that the scabbard is very sturdy, I fell unto it while losing my footing on ice and it has not even a scratch. Not to mention that it protected me from the blade inside it… so much for safety.
Handling/Testing
The handling is actually the only down point of this wicked sword, at least for me. I don’t know where exactly the problem lies, maybe because the weapon is for its small size quite heavy or the sheer impact force it produces, but I find it difficult to use it with as much ease as other weapons.
While I can still cut targets without sending them flying through the air, this still happens (not shown in video to save my spleen ;D) and when you thrust at a target with a lot of resistance the guard digs itself into your hand, save but ouch!
But let the performance give a better image than my grumbling:
As you can see this little monster cuts and hacks its way through whatever stands between it and the glimmering beauty of sunshine on metal. You have to get used to the way it behaves but this isn’t as hard as for example cutting with a pole arm (yes, I’m looking in the direction of my Pu Dao, argh).
Milk cartons, Pringles tubes, the enemy! ergo plastic bottles, cardboard as well as frozen wood and (half frozen) tatami mats are no problem for the Kris. You can have a lot of fun with this little work horse without damaging it in any possible way.
Ah, and it cuts paper, too! Didn’t go into the video, I mean, we all know how that looks and the nice sound it makes… okay okay, we’ll put it back into the next video again.
Conclusion and SBG Ratings
This little beauty is hiding what a monstrous weapon it actually is. While the blade is considerably shorter than what most of us are used to, the Kris performs no less effective than a much bigger weapon (even including the apparent overweight in the blade ).
So, if you like an exotic weapon and have a heart for shorties you’ll be absolutely happy with this sword. That’s at least my guess as I would recommend it to you.
Historical Accuracy: 5/5 (there are a lot of different types out there, I’m sure it fits at least one)
Fit and Finish: 5/5 (strikingly exact and beautiful)
Handling: 4/5 (not for everyone, I’d guess, but good enough)
Structural Integrity: 5/5 (sturdy little beast)
Value for Money: 5/5 (below 200$, how low could one go for that quality?)
OVERALL: 5/5