Filipino Laring sword review
May 17, 2009 7:39:00 GMT
Post by Tom K. (ianflaer) on May 17, 2009 7:39:00 GMT
Review of the Filipino Laring sword
By Tom Kinder of Seaside, OR
My wife has showed mild to moderate interest in getting a sword of her own for some time but never really could seem to decide on what she liked and would only occasionally join in the cutting, but over time the bug settled in on her and recently when a friend gave his wife her first sword I saw a flicker of envy in Tara’s eyes as she watched her friend do the first-sword-happy-dance and I knew it was time to get her, her own blade. It took a few hours of picking through all the sword sites I knew to find something she really liked. It had to be something unusual, something that excited her and something well made. After tabbing out several sites with stuff that she thought was OK but failed to inspire we came to traditionalfilipinoweapons.com/ and finally her eyes lit up with excitement. The blade that got picked was the Moro Laring.
Historical overview
I don’t know anything about the Moro people of the Philippines and even my one Filipino friend couldn’t tell me much (Hi Jeff!) so I resorted to good old Wikkipedia which told me the following:
The Moro is a name given to Muslim Filipinos, a collection of several multilingual ethnic groups, the largest mainly non-Christian group in the Philippines, comprising about 5.25% of the total Philippine population as of 2005, making them the sixth largest group in the country, counted collectively. There are primarily ten distinct "Moro" ethnic groups, although a variety of other smaller tribes may, rightly or wrongly, be called "Moro" as well. Their singular commonality being that a majority of the populations of these ethnic groups and tribes profess the Islamic faith. The Spanish loosely used the word "Moro" to describe any Muslim they encountered, i.e. Iberian Muslims, as well as Muslims living along the Mediterranean coasts and the Levant. Spanish for Moor, the same term was then used to describe Muslim natives of the Philippine islands. The "Moro" mostly live in Mindanao and its outlying islands in the southern Philippines. Due to migration, Moro communities have also begun to appear in major cities like Manila, Cebu and Baguio.
During 1380, the arrival of Arab missionaries, including Makhdum Karim, in Tawi-Tawi initiated the conversion of the native population into Islam. Subsequent trade between Malays also helped establish the Islamic faith.
Starting in 1457, the introduction of Islam led to the creation of many sultanates. This included the sultanates of Buayan, Maguindanao and Sulu, which is considered the largest and longest-lasting Muslim state in the country until its annexation into the Philippines in 1898.
The inhabitants of pre-Hispanic Philippines were mostly Hindu-Buddhist-Animist, except for the newly-converted Muslims of the Sulu Archipelago, Mindanao and Palawan, as well as the Brunei-sponsored Muslim Kingdom of Selurung (Maynila) in Luzon. Although the Malay kingdoms interacted and traded with each other quite extensively throughout the period, several tribes and Kingdoms actively resisted Islamic conversion, e.g. Sugbo (Cebu), Bohol, Panay, Butuan (Caraga), Macabebe (Pampanga), etc. Rajah Sulayman, Crown Prince of the Muslim Kingdom of Selurung (Maynila) lived alongside his uncle Lakan Dula, King of the Hindu-Buddhist Kingdom of Tondo on the north banks of the Pasig River, at the time of the Spanish conquest, is one example. The classic rivalry between the Hindu-Buddhist Kingdom of Sugbo under Rajah Tupas and the Islamized Kingdom of Mactan under Lapu-Lapu (believed to be descended from Tau-SUG pioneers who have since called themselves SUG-buhanon) representing a religious demarcation line in the natural kinship between the peoples of Sulu (Lupa Sug - "land of Sug") and Cebu (Sugbo - "north of Sug"), likewise pointed at the wider conflicts endemic throughout the islands when the Spanish arrived. This Hindu-Buddhist and Muslim dichotomy in pre-Hispanic Philippine society was thus interpreted by the Spanish as a real split between the two groups, thus calling the more pliant Hindu-Buddhist populations as "Indios" (Spanish for "Indians") and the Muslims as "Moros" (Spanish for "Moors").
While this is pretty cool it doesn’t tell me anything about the sword. Obviously it is a short, fast, heavy-duty cut oriented sword that can most likely deliver a wicked thrust in a pinch. I have no idea if the back spike serves a real purpose such as a sword breaker or a specific attack option but it sure does look cool.
Initial Impressions
My first impression was of course one regarding the company itself. They were very polite, easy to deal with, and shipped very quickly. Only a few days after paying I received the sword. For business practices, honesty, and customer service I give this company an A+/5stars.
The sword was packaged well and everything arrived with no damage. The grease on the blade was quite dry and took some serious work with soapy water and WD40 to remove. Once it was clean, the blade was in pristine condition. As expected the sword is light coming in just over one pound and forward balanced for serious cutting. From the exotic hardwoods in the handle to the wicked blade this sword may look Klingon/sci-fi but is traditional and historically accurate so far as I can tell. Over all the quality of materials and workmanship in this sword immediately appeared well above most of what I’ve seen in the sub $300 price range. I like it a lot.
Statistics
Blade Length: 19.25 inches
Blade thickness @ guard 7/32”, @ center of blade 5/32”, @ just behind tip 3/32”
Handle Length: 7 inches/4.25 inch grip area
Overall Length: 26.25 inches
Guard Width: 1.75 inches
POB (Point of Balance): 5.25 inches from guard
COP (Center of Percussion): special, see blade section below
Weight: 1 pound 2 ounces
Components
This sword is little more than blade and handle, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t elegant. Details below.
The Blade
The blade is thick, stiff, and sharp (with a very slight secondary bevel). It is made from 5160 spring steel and seems to be very well heat treated. The polish is somewhat rough and a little uneven but I doubt it would bother most people and would be simple to touch up with a quick pass of 800 grit paper. The blade has excellent harmonic qualities. While this blade is too stiff for the European sword pommel slap test to show anything at all it does still have a center of percussion (this is true of all swords and long, thin, sword-like objects. Even katana). To find the center of percussion on a stiff blade I like to gently drop the blade, edge down, onto a block of wood. The less the sword bounces the closer to the COP the point of impact. Very stiff blades like katana often have COP that are several inches long. I consider the entire area that hits with no bounce to be the COP (forward blade node), because any cut made with the area the doesn’t bounce will be more effective than cuts made with the bouncy area (common sense, I know). The reason I went to the trouble of such a lengthy description of this is because the COP or forward blade node on this sword is quite remarkable. Only the very first 2 to 3 inches of the tip section of the blade bounce AT ALL. The entire rest of the blade lands hard and dead on the block with no bounce at all. Which should mean that this sword is an incredible cutter. The shape and geometry of the blade is very interesting. It has almost no really flat surfaces. The part of the blade that looks flat and would correspond with the shinogi-ji is actually slightly concave in shape while the primary edge bevel is slightly convex. All of these curves make for a very interesting blade with very pleasing shape and appearance. This is one pretty blade. The tip section is split and both points are wickedly sharp. While the points seem pretty sturdy I have not yet put them to the test.
The Handle
The handle is my favorite part of the whole sword; I love the way it nestles into the palm and hooks the pinky. No way is this handle coming out of the hand on accident. Also there’s an oblong steel disc to keep your hand from slipping up onto the blade. I wish more swords had handles like this. I don’t know what the different hardwoods are in the handle but they are beautiful. Here’s what the web site says about the wood they use: “The exotic woods used in the handles and sheaths of our Traditional Filipino Weapons make them even more special! Narra and Molave, as well as Gijo Iron Wood are regularly used in the handles of the Sandata. Knives and smaller blades incorporate Kamagong Iron Wood. Sword Canes and some of the newer Moro blades use exotic Adaan. The sheaths for the Traditional Filipino Weapons are individually hand crafted and fitted from Red Pine wood which is light, flexible, and adapts to climate changes so that the sheath fits the blade for a lifetime!”
The Guard/collar
Not much to look at being only a 1.75” by 1” oval of stainless steel. It serves well enough to keep your hand off the blade but I doubt it would do much good keeping an opponent’s blade off you. There is a stainless collar kind of like a fuchi just under the guard that is riveted right through the body of the handle and the tang, which I think is the key component keeping the whole handle on.
The Pommel
The pommel seems to be one solid piece with the rest of the handle. The style, to me, looks like some sort of stylized bird’s head. It doesn’t seem to have much weight but it does grip the hand nicely. Stylistically its curve and sweep are a large part of what makes this sword so beautiful.
The Scabbard
The Sheath:
Most swords in our price range have very little of interest to their sheaths, if they even have one. This sword, however, is quite a different story. Made of beautiful red pine the sheath for this sword is very distinctive. There is stainless steel hardware to clip the scabbard to a belt
The scabbard has a split open back to allow the wide, and odd-shaped blade to settle and be removed smoothly. The sword sits very securely in the scabbard thanks in part to a locking system that is an extension of the belt clip.
Handling Characteristics
This sword is light and fast, but somehow it manages to have a powerful cut. The pommel hook and handle shape help keep edge alignment. This sword is so short and light it’s hard to imagine how the handling could be bad.
Test Cutting
I didn’t have any tatami on hand but I did still have a grove of bamboo growing nearby (oh how I miss that grove). the sword needs to be a little sharper than it came out of the box to make me happy but you wouldn’t need my sharpening skills or equipment to make this sword as sharp as most anybody could ever want it. In fact the factory edge is probably as sharp as most people would need, but I’m an edge snob, I like my edges super sharp and perfectly shaped. Still it handled bottles just fine (except the empty but I blame myself for that) and the bamboo cut easily too but I’ll let the video speak for itself.
Conclusions
The company gave me great service and fast, safe shipping. The sword is fast, light and a heck of a good cutter not to mention a beautiful work of art worthy of display. The price was reasonable too. All in all I am very pleased with it.
Pros
Appearance - this a beautiful sword and I really like it even the slightly rough polish cannot make this sword anything less than pleasing to look at.
Cutting ability – even with a little bit of a secondary bevel this sword cuts easily, most people will not want to sharpen it out of the box.
Great company – good customer service is very important and this company has it in spades
Quality materials/workmanship – 5160 is a steel I’m becoming very fond of, I’ve had real good luck with every blade made of it. I also really like the hard woods used in this sword and by the company, very pretty and unusual.
Style - let’s face it this sword is just cool
Cons
Ummmm not much to say here, I have very little I could complain about and they are very minor. Well ok here are my minor nit-picks:
Polish – could be a bit finer and more even
Secondary bevel – this is something I just hate, but this sword is still quite sharp and cuts well.
Belt clip – while the belt clip grabs belts well and hangs on securely, I’d say it hangs on too securely. I had a hard time getting it off. Hardly a big deal.
The Bottom Line
heck yes! I would recommend this sword and/or this company to any enthusiast of Filipino weaponry.
By Tom Kinder of Seaside, OR
My wife has showed mild to moderate interest in getting a sword of her own for some time but never really could seem to decide on what she liked and would only occasionally join in the cutting, but over time the bug settled in on her and recently when a friend gave his wife her first sword I saw a flicker of envy in Tara’s eyes as she watched her friend do the first-sword-happy-dance and I knew it was time to get her, her own blade. It took a few hours of picking through all the sword sites I knew to find something she really liked. It had to be something unusual, something that excited her and something well made. After tabbing out several sites with stuff that she thought was OK but failed to inspire we came to traditionalfilipinoweapons.com/ and finally her eyes lit up with excitement. The blade that got picked was the Moro Laring.
Historical overview
I don’t know anything about the Moro people of the Philippines and even my one Filipino friend couldn’t tell me much (Hi Jeff!) so I resorted to good old Wikkipedia which told me the following:
The Moro is a name given to Muslim Filipinos, a collection of several multilingual ethnic groups, the largest mainly non-Christian group in the Philippines, comprising about 5.25% of the total Philippine population as of 2005, making them the sixth largest group in the country, counted collectively. There are primarily ten distinct "Moro" ethnic groups, although a variety of other smaller tribes may, rightly or wrongly, be called "Moro" as well. Their singular commonality being that a majority of the populations of these ethnic groups and tribes profess the Islamic faith. The Spanish loosely used the word "Moro" to describe any Muslim they encountered, i.e. Iberian Muslims, as well as Muslims living along the Mediterranean coasts and the Levant. Spanish for Moor, the same term was then used to describe Muslim natives of the Philippine islands. The "Moro" mostly live in Mindanao and its outlying islands in the southern Philippines. Due to migration, Moro communities have also begun to appear in major cities like Manila, Cebu and Baguio.
During 1380, the arrival of Arab missionaries, including Makhdum Karim, in Tawi-Tawi initiated the conversion of the native population into Islam. Subsequent trade between Malays also helped establish the Islamic faith.
Starting in 1457, the introduction of Islam led to the creation of many sultanates. This included the sultanates of Buayan, Maguindanao and Sulu, which is considered the largest and longest-lasting Muslim state in the country until its annexation into the Philippines in 1898.
The inhabitants of pre-Hispanic Philippines were mostly Hindu-Buddhist-Animist, except for the newly-converted Muslims of the Sulu Archipelago, Mindanao and Palawan, as well as the Brunei-sponsored Muslim Kingdom of Selurung (Maynila) in Luzon. Although the Malay kingdoms interacted and traded with each other quite extensively throughout the period, several tribes and Kingdoms actively resisted Islamic conversion, e.g. Sugbo (Cebu), Bohol, Panay, Butuan (Caraga), Macabebe (Pampanga), etc. Rajah Sulayman, Crown Prince of the Muslim Kingdom of Selurung (Maynila) lived alongside his uncle Lakan Dula, King of the Hindu-Buddhist Kingdom of Tondo on the north banks of the Pasig River, at the time of the Spanish conquest, is one example. The classic rivalry between the Hindu-Buddhist Kingdom of Sugbo under Rajah Tupas and the Islamized Kingdom of Mactan under Lapu-Lapu (believed to be descended from Tau-SUG pioneers who have since called themselves SUG-buhanon) representing a religious demarcation line in the natural kinship between the peoples of Sulu (Lupa Sug - "land of Sug") and Cebu (Sugbo - "north of Sug"), likewise pointed at the wider conflicts endemic throughout the islands when the Spanish arrived. This Hindu-Buddhist and Muslim dichotomy in pre-Hispanic Philippine society was thus interpreted by the Spanish as a real split between the two groups, thus calling the more pliant Hindu-Buddhist populations as "Indios" (Spanish for "Indians") and the Muslims as "Moros" (Spanish for "Moors").
While this is pretty cool it doesn’t tell me anything about the sword. Obviously it is a short, fast, heavy-duty cut oriented sword that can most likely deliver a wicked thrust in a pinch. I have no idea if the back spike serves a real purpose such as a sword breaker or a specific attack option but it sure does look cool.
Initial Impressions
My first impression was of course one regarding the company itself. They were very polite, easy to deal with, and shipped very quickly. Only a few days after paying I received the sword. For business practices, honesty, and customer service I give this company an A+/5stars.
The sword was packaged well and everything arrived with no damage. The grease on the blade was quite dry and took some serious work with soapy water and WD40 to remove. Once it was clean, the blade was in pristine condition. As expected the sword is light coming in just over one pound and forward balanced for serious cutting. From the exotic hardwoods in the handle to the wicked blade this sword may look Klingon/sci-fi but is traditional and historically accurate so far as I can tell. Over all the quality of materials and workmanship in this sword immediately appeared well above most of what I’ve seen in the sub $300 price range. I like it a lot.
Statistics
Blade Length: 19.25 inches
Blade thickness @ guard 7/32”, @ center of blade 5/32”, @ just behind tip 3/32”
Handle Length: 7 inches/4.25 inch grip area
Overall Length: 26.25 inches
Guard Width: 1.75 inches
POB (Point of Balance): 5.25 inches from guard
COP (Center of Percussion): special, see blade section below
Weight: 1 pound 2 ounces
Components
This sword is little more than blade and handle, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t elegant. Details below.
The Blade
The blade is thick, stiff, and sharp (with a very slight secondary bevel). It is made from 5160 spring steel and seems to be very well heat treated. The polish is somewhat rough and a little uneven but I doubt it would bother most people and would be simple to touch up with a quick pass of 800 grit paper. The blade has excellent harmonic qualities. While this blade is too stiff for the European sword pommel slap test to show anything at all it does still have a center of percussion (this is true of all swords and long, thin, sword-like objects. Even katana). To find the center of percussion on a stiff blade I like to gently drop the blade, edge down, onto a block of wood. The less the sword bounces the closer to the COP the point of impact. Very stiff blades like katana often have COP that are several inches long. I consider the entire area that hits with no bounce to be the COP (forward blade node), because any cut made with the area the doesn’t bounce will be more effective than cuts made with the bouncy area (common sense, I know). The reason I went to the trouble of such a lengthy description of this is because the COP or forward blade node on this sword is quite remarkable. Only the very first 2 to 3 inches of the tip section of the blade bounce AT ALL. The entire rest of the blade lands hard and dead on the block with no bounce at all. Which should mean that this sword is an incredible cutter. The shape and geometry of the blade is very interesting. It has almost no really flat surfaces. The part of the blade that looks flat and would correspond with the shinogi-ji is actually slightly concave in shape while the primary edge bevel is slightly convex. All of these curves make for a very interesting blade with very pleasing shape and appearance. This is one pretty blade. The tip section is split and both points are wickedly sharp. While the points seem pretty sturdy I have not yet put them to the test.
The Handle
The handle is my favorite part of the whole sword; I love the way it nestles into the palm and hooks the pinky. No way is this handle coming out of the hand on accident. Also there’s an oblong steel disc to keep your hand from slipping up onto the blade. I wish more swords had handles like this. I don’t know what the different hardwoods are in the handle but they are beautiful. Here’s what the web site says about the wood they use: “The exotic woods used in the handles and sheaths of our Traditional Filipino Weapons make them even more special! Narra and Molave, as well as Gijo Iron Wood are regularly used in the handles of the Sandata. Knives and smaller blades incorporate Kamagong Iron Wood. Sword Canes and some of the newer Moro blades use exotic Adaan. The sheaths for the Traditional Filipino Weapons are individually hand crafted and fitted from Red Pine wood which is light, flexible, and adapts to climate changes so that the sheath fits the blade for a lifetime!”
The Guard/collar
Not much to look at being only a 1.75” by 1” oval of stainless steel. It serves well enough to keep your hand off the blade but I doubt it would do much good keeping an opponent’s blade off you. There is a stainless collar kind of like a fuchi just under the guard that is riveted right through the body of the handle and the tang, which I think is the key component keeping the whole handle on.
The Pommel
The pommel seems to be one solid piece with the rest of the handle. The style, to me, looks like some sort of stylized bird’s head. It doesn’t seem to have much weight but it does grip the hand nicely. Stylistically its curve and sweep are a large part of what makes this sword so beautiful.
The Scabbard
The Sheath:
Most swords in our price range have very little of interest to their sheaths, if they even have one. This sword, however, is quite a different story. Made of beautiful red pine the sheath for this sword is very distinctive. There is stainless steel hardware to clip the scabbard to a belt
The scabbard has a split open back to allow the wide, and odd-shaped blade to settle and be removed smoothly. The sword sits very securely in the scabbard thanks in part to a locking system that is an extension of the belt clip.
Handling Characteristics
This sword is light and fast, but somehow it manages to have a powerful cut. The pommel hook and handle shape help keep edge alignment. This sword is so short and light it’s hard to imagine how the handling could be bad.
Test Cutting
I didn’t have any tatami on hand but I did still have a grove of bamboo growing nearby (oh how I miss that grove). the sword needs to be a little sharper than it came out of the box to make me happy but you wouldn’t need my sharpening skills or equipment to make this sword as sharp as most anybody could ever want it. In fact the factory edge is probably as sharp as most people would need, but I’m an edge snob, I like my edges super sharp and perfectly shaped. Still it handled bottles just fine (except the empty but I blame myself for that) and the bamboo cut easily too but I’ll let the video speak for itself.
Conclusions
The company gave me great service and fast, safe shipping. The sword is fast, light and a heck of a good cutter not to mention a beautiful work of art worthy of display. The price was reasonable too. All in all I am very pleased with it.
Pros
Appearance - this a beautiful sword and I really like it even the slightly rough polish cannot make this sword anything less than pleasing to look at.
Cutting ability – even with a little bit of a secondary bevel this sword cuts easily, most people will not want to sharpen it out of the box.
Great company – good customer service is very important and this company has it in spades
Quality materials/workmanship – 5160 is a steel I’m becoming very fond of, I’ve had real good luck with every blade made of it. I also really like the hard woods used in this sword and by the company, very pretty and unusual.
Style - let’s face it this sword is just cool
Cons
Ummmm not much to say here, I have very little I could complain about and they are very minor. Well ok here are my minor nit-picks:
Polish – could be a bit finer and more even
Secondary bevel – this is something I just hate, but this sword is still quite sharp and cuts well.
Belt clip – while the belt clip grabs belts well and hangs on securely, I’d say it hangs on too securely. I had a hard time getting it off. Hardly a big deal.
The Bottom Line
heck yes! I would recommend this sword and/or this company to any enthusiast of Filipino weaponry.
). 
