Kombat Weapons Ginunting: an ongoing company & blade review
Feb 3, 2011 9:14:43 GMT
Post by thepepperskull on Feb 3, 2011 9:14:43 GMT
Hello, all! If any of you are familiar with my posts then you know that I am an FMA (Filipino martial Arts) enthusiast and amateur southeast asian weaponry hobbyist as well.
As such, I feel that modern made blades from my country of origin (I live and was raised in Canada but my family and I are originally from the philippines) are either misrepresented, not represented in a good light, or both among modern blade collectors.
I think this is mainly because of a lack of knowledge about my blade culture. Hopefully the reviews I will do in the near future rectify that.
What I like most about phillippine blades is that most of them, even the more bare-bones workhorse blades, are hand-forged. This is something you do not get out of a lot of places that manufacture large quantities of blades, who just stamp out blade shapes, temper and sharpen them. This is all personal preference of course, but there's just something about a blade that's been shaped by an artisan that is so unique, that makes me glad forging by hand is not a dead art.
That being said, I never buy a blade that I don't think is worth my money or worth investigating, and I thought I'd investigate a little about a company run in the philippines that sells their own designs and takes custom orders as well. I will do a review of not only their product, but of the company itself, its service and how it is run. I am doing this in part with the hope of promoting my country's strong blademaking tradition, and because I have heard good things, but not seen a real review of this company's blades and decided to take the plunge.
What I will be reviewing is a custom Ginunting, partly of my design (But based mainly off of other ginunting I have seen), from a company based in Metro Manila. Kombat Weapons offers blades traditional and unorthodox. I have seen similar ginunting attributed as coming from around Batangas, and indeed they do sell similar blades in the region, but they typically come from more northern areas of Luzon. (Reviewer's note: The Ginunting is native to the Visayan region of the Phillippines, but in a modern day context, it is a popular design that many regions have adopted into their own use. Mostly because of martial artist demand for it rather than utility purpose)
He offers stainless steel blades and 5160 steel as options. I opted for a 21-inch 5160 ginunting, to look like this:
My drawing skills are terrible, so I decided to mash up some pictures from Kombat Weapons' website and add some details to specify what I would like exactly.
I was given a good amount of options in terms of material selection, and I chose Carabao horn for the hilt, and Molave Wood for the sheath. Molave is wonderful wood, but underrated in the Philippines. Everyone wants everything eskrima related to be made of Kamagong. (*Reviewer's note: again, luzon blades generally have leather sheaths, but this company has adopted the visayan standard of using wooden sheathes. I have a feeling they are manufactured in luzon regions more closely located to the visayas. I will update on specific region of manufacture when I get confirmation)
I also added that I would like the blade to be 1/4th inch thick and to have a distal taper. This was unnecessary, I later learned, as Karen, the customer service representative of Kombat Weapons, told me they generally start their longer blades at 1/4th of an inch in thickness. Their smaller blades and knives are thinner due to there not being a need for it to be so thick if it is not a sword length.
Speaking with Karen about their blades, she seems to me like a very passionate person in terms of getting her product out to the world and is excited at the prospect of a global market and shared my passion in promoting the fine work of modern philippine pandays.
For a custom blade, this sword has cost me 190 US Dollars in total, including shipping! I think specific price would depend on material and length, but considering that my choices were fairly standard, mine did not cost much. I ordered about five days ago, and already got a response on completion: it should be ready around february 20th. lightning quick.
Let's hope the completed piece is just as good as the service has been. Fingers crossed. This review far from over, and hopefully the blade/finished product will be just as good or better than the customer service so far! We'll see!
Please feel free to comment and discuss in this thread and I look foreward to updating you guys on progress!
PROGRESS REPORT #1: The blademakers and.... DUN-DUN-DUUUUUN! It's ready (sort of)!
I asked karen about the origin of these blades (as I find it is always great to know where and who these blades come from. Kris Cutlery's filipino blades come from a forge in the Baguio area, known for their great bladework. Traditional Filipino Weapons' blades come from the Forondo Family's forge in northern Luzon; whose owner, Daniel Forondo, is a high ranking member of Pekiti Tirsia Kali, the combat system taught to the Philippine marines.) and quickly she gave me an answer:
The De Guzman forge in the city of Pozorrubio in the Pangasinan region of Luzon, Phillippines. I did a little digging and its operator is a fourth-generation owner of the forge. Hernando "Boy" De Guzman (Boy is a common nickname in the phillippines).
His claim to fame is that his forge is responsible for making swords for a ton of hollywood movies: Braveheart, and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy among others. That being said, it makes a ton of sense that they offer custom blades.
I have also read that his blades, knives in particular, are popular among foreign law enforcement, who enjoy is quality of the blades for the price.
Here is a video showcasing his work (I see the TFW ginunting in there. I'm guessing they replicated/lifted the design or maybe even did the preliminary work on the prototypes? that had me confused hahaha. I do know a lot of the same designs get used in modern forges)
Here's a video of a news report about hernando's forge. (Not in english unfortunately)
Karen also sent me these pictures:
Check out that Molave wood! Absolutely gorgeous! I am incredibly smitten with the chatoyancy of the wood, and there's even a bit of curl to the grain in the middle of the sheath. Awesome.
The blade looks great as well, as do the blackened fittings.
I do, however, have issue with the handle, which I think could be worked on a little better. This is actually pretty typical of Luzon work I have seen, but compared to the work of the De Guzmans I have seen they could be a little better. This is more typical of their more workhourse/wilderness blade stuff.
I asked them if they could re-do the handle, as everything else was spot-on except for that. We'll see what they say.
As such, I feel that modern made blades from my country of origin (I live and was raised in Canada but my family and I are originally from the philippines) are either misrepresented, not represented in a good light, or both among modern blade collectors.
I think this is mainly because of a lack of knowledge about my blade culture. Hopefully the reviews I will do in the near future rectify that.
What I like most about phillippine blades is that most of them, even the more bare-bones workhorse blades, are hand-forged. This is something you do not get out of a lot of places that manufacture large quantities of blades, who just stamp out blade shapes, temper and sharpen them. This is all personal preference of course, but there's just something about a blade that's been shaped by an artisan that is so unique, that makes me glad forging by hand is not a dead art.
That being said, I never buy a blade that I don't think is worth my money or worth investigating, and I thought I'd investigate a little about a company run in the philippines that sells their own designs and takes custom orders as well. I will do a review of not only their product, but of the company itself, its service and how it is run. I am doing this in part with the hope of promoting my country's strong blademaking tradition, and because I have heard good things, but not seen a real review of this company's blades and decided to take the plunge.
What I will be reviewing is a custom Ginunting, partly of my design (But based mainly off of other ginunting I have seen), from a company based in Metro Manila. Kombat Weapons offers blades traditional and unorthodox. I have seen similar ginunting attributed as coming from around Batangas, and indeed they do sell similar blades in the region, but they typically come from more northern areas of Luzon. (Reviewer's note: The Ginunting is native to the Visayan region of the Phillippines, but in a modern day context, it is a popular design that many regions have adopted into their own use. Mostly because of martial artist demand for it rather than utility purpose)
He offers stainless steel blades and 5160 steel as options. I opted for a 21-inch 5160 ginunting, to look like this:
My drawing skills are terrible, so I decided to mash up some pictures from Kombat Weapons' website and add some details to specify what I would like exactly.
I was given a good amount of options in terms of material selection, and I chose Carabao horn for the hilt, and Molave Wood for the sheath. Molave is wonderful wood, but underrated in the Philippines. Everyone wants everything eskrima related to be made of Kamagong. (*Reviewer's note: again, luzon blades generally have leather sheaths, but this company has adopted the visayan standard of using wooden sheathes. I have a feeling they are manufactured in luzon regions more closely located to the visayas. I will update on specific region of manufacture when I get confirmation)
I also added that I would like the blade to be 1/4th inch thick and to have a distal taper. This was unnecessary, I later learned, as Karen, the customer service representative of Kombat Weapons, told me they generally start their longer blades at 1/4th of an inch in thickness. Their smaller blades and knives are thinner due to there not being a need for it to be so thick if it is not a sword length.
Speaking with Karen about their blades, she seems to me like a very passionate person in terms of getting her product out to the world and is excited at the prospect of a global market and shared my passion in promoting the fine work of modern philippine pandays.
For a custom blade, this sword has cost me 190 US Dollars in total, including shipping! I think specific price would depend on material and length, but considering that my choices were fairly standard, mine did not cost much. I ordered about five days ago, and already got a response on completion: it should be ready around february 20th. lightning quick.
Let's hope the completed piece is just as good as the service has been. Fingers crossed. This review far from over, and hopefully the blade/finished product will be just as good or better than the customer service so far! We'll see!
Please feel free to comment and discuss in this thread and I look foreward to updating you guys on progress!
PROGRESS REPORT #1: The blademakers and.... DUN-DUN-DUUUUUN! It's ready (sort of)!
I asked karen about the origin of these blades (as I find it is always great to know where and who these blades come from. Kris Cutlery's filipino blades come from a forge in the Baguio area, known for their great bladework. Traditional Filipino Weapons' blades come from the Forondo Family's forge in northern Luzon; whose owner, Daniel Forondo, is a high ranking member of Pekiti Tirsia Kali, the combat system taught to the Philippine marines.) and quickly she gave me an answer:
The De Guzman forge in the city of Pozorrubio in the Pangasinan region of Luzon, Phillippines. I did a little digging and its operator is a fourth-generation owner of the forge. Hernando "Boy" De Guzman (Boy is a common nickname in the phillippines).
His claim to fame is that his forge is responsible for making swords for a ton of hollywood movies: Braveheart, and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy among others. That being said, it makes a ton of sense that they offer custom blades.
I have also read that his blades, knives in particular, are popular among foreign law enforcement, who enjoy is quality of the blades for the price.
Here is a video showcasing his work (I see the TFW ginunting in there. I'm guessing they replicated/lifted the design or maybe even did the preliminary work on the prototypes? that had me confused hahaha. I do know a lot of the same designs get used in modern forges)
Here's a video of a news report about hernando's forge. (Not in english unfortunately)
Karen also sent me these pictures:
Check out that Molave wood! Absolutely gorgeous! I am incredibly smitten with the chatoyancy of the wood, and there's even a bit of curl to the grain in the middle of the sheath. Awesome.
The blade looks great as well, as do the blackened fittings.
I do, however, have issue with the handle, which I think could be worked on a little better. This is actually pretty typical of Luzon work I have seen, but compared to the work of the De Guzmans I have seen they could be a little better. This is more typical of their more workhourse/wilderness blade stuff.
I asked them if they could re-do the handle, as everything else was spot-on except for that. We'll see what they say.