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Post by justin520 on Jul 22, 2013 22:42:54 GMT
I'm looking for more info on lesser known South East Asian blades and anything in these areas would help, these are two cultures who don't seem to have any production swords what so ever and I've had a hard time getting information in general. Please and thank you.
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Post by justin520 on Jul 22, 2013 23:20:00 GMT
Also good places to purchase functional ones would rule.
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Jul 22, 2013 23:56:30 GMT
For Vietnam, we see Chinese-style double-edged sword, "kiem", which derives from "gim" = Cantonese for "jian". Also, in the north, Chinese-style dao (but with distinctive Vietnamese hilts), and in the south, dha-style dao. Also dadao, both of sword length and polearm length. Also Chinese-style halberds (spear + crescent blade), with one or two crescent blades. For more: www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=183For Taiwan, 16??-1895, you'd find Chinese-style swords among the Chinese inhabitants. The Taiwanese aboriginals had/have their own distinctive styles of swords. See sevenstarstrading.com/site/2010/ ... borigines/ for some info. There has been discussion of Taiwanese swords on e.g., www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=17300For a production Taiwanese sword, www.valiantco.com/ does one; see "Baiwan sword" in their "world" category.
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Post by justin520 on Jul 23, 2013 0:48:24 GMT
How reputable are these guys at valiant co?
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Jul 23, 2013 4:54:30 GMT
Very reputable. Lots of people say very nice things about their blades. I have a few of them, and am happy with them. Good customer service, too, IMO.
Their Baiwan sword is nice. It isn't a heavy duty machete - it has a thin blade with a thin edge, and cuts well. I don't really like the round grip, but round grips are common on Taiwanese swords.
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Post by michael_nguyen on Jul 23, 2013 5:40:58 GMT
Any know of any production vietnamese swords? I'd dig that
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Post by Vue on Jul 23, 2013 17:47:43 GMT
Justin - My favorite blade from Taiwan is properly the Laraw, these are tribal blades and was used as head hunting blades. The laraw is very simple but very effective and vicious little cutters; they're perfect for the Jungle environment and as a camping blade. Mike - English publications about them is very rare hence not too many people know or care about them. I vaguely recall Peter Dekker from MandarinMasion mentioned a while back that he's working on a new publication about Vietnamese swords, as of now I haven't heard about it's completion yet :? . I'm also in the market for a Vietnamese Dao, I just got to iron out a few design details for my own custom before I can place my orders as currently there is no production for Vietnamese style swords; custom is the only option Vietnam has quite a few interesting blades, I'm very fond of the Champa style blades from the Champa kingdom 'long gone' from the Southern part of Vietnam. Like Timo mentioned above, Vietnamese blades tends to have a lot of influences from their neighboring cultures such as Chinese, Japanese, Thai etc..this by no means they're direct copies though as their blades is still quite distinctive and I think that's mainly due to a different appreciations of the aesthetics. Check out 'oriental-arms.com' for some photo's of late Vietnamese blades, the earlier stuff in very difficult to find as most of them are in Private collections and Museums.
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Post by justin520 on Jul 24, 2013 0:14:08 GMT
Could you please show me some pictures? They have no actual blade pics on the site.
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Jul 24, 2013 2:07:11 GMT
Here's a review (not mine), with pictures: outdoors.magazine.free.fr/spip.php?article5For a while, I was using one of their goloks (survival golok L) to cut down a lot of trees. Better than an axe when in a confined space where it's hard to swing an axe (e.g., due to other trees right next to the one being cut). Good tough differentially-hardened blade. Alas, one day I hit something very hard with it, and took a big chip out of the edge. Tough, but not invulnerable. It was such an excellent working blade, I will buy another one. The Baiwan sword has a thinner blade and a much finer edge - don't cut trees down with it.
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Post by justin520 on Aug 4, 2013 20:08:00 GMT
Does anybody know how to draw the dha lwe? I understand basic use of it, but isn't it worn by a strap over the shoulder with the blade facing down? How would you draw that and would it be clumsy?
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