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Post by Nujukamma on Jul 19, 2020 23:50:36 GMT
My great grandfather (95 and still going strong) brought these two blades back home from the phillipines near the end of WW2. His ship was one of those that would eventually be part of the japanese occupation. The khukri is obvious, and still has the karda and chakmak; im just not sure why a khukri would have been in the philipines, as I understood they were a indian/Nepalese weapon. The other sword I can't quite place. Its handle is solid metal (my grandfather says its silver, but I can't confirm this). Someone on reddit suggested a talibong, but the hilt quite a bit different.... any help would be appreciated. Ww2 filipino sword and khukri my great grandfather brought back from the war. imgur.com/gallery/xd02Zea
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Post by mrbadexample on Jul 20, 2020 0:13:01 GMT
Nice blades.
A good number of Gurkha troops served in the Pacific in WW2. The Kukri fits with that. The other sword is most likely Filipino. Hopefully Timo will be along with more info.
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Post by randomnobody on Jul 20, 2020 0:27:14 GMT
I've seen similar swords but can never remember what they're called. I'm only vaguely acquainted with Filipino weapons, though.
Timo will definitely be able to tell you more than most of us could.
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pgandy
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Posts: 10,296
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Post by pgandy on Jul 20, 2020 2:33:25 GMT
One sword appears to be Filipino and could be a talibong or a pinuti. I have trouble sometimes distinguishing to two apart. I believe there may be some overlap. I’ve seen knuckle bows on several knives from that area. Below is a photo of a pinuti from Wikipedia. Also one of mine. Timo is the expert in this area. From Wikipedia Mine The kukri is the traditional knife of the Ghurkhas. Native of Nepal and hired by the British as soldiers. Ghurkhas are noted for their combat skills and a kukri is their icon. They use it with great skill. The knife is also used by the Nepalese as a workhorse and ceremonies.
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Jul 20, 2020 2:34:20 GMT
Odd hilt on that Philippine sword. The scabbard is Visayan in style. The blade looks like a typical tenegre blade in shape, but a tenegre blade is chisel ground (i.e., the edge is ground on only one side), and this looks like a symmetric grind. Many tenegres have guards like this. The handle is a bit of an oddball. The closest I usually see are on talibong, e.g., i.ebayimg.com/images/g/7JwAAOSw5j9eZYm3/s-l1600.jpgIf the blade is symmetric rather than chisel ground, you could call it a "pinuti". If chisel-ground, maybe "tenegre". Either way, you can it a "sundang" (= "sword"). The kukri is not military issue.
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Post by Nujukamma on Jul 20, 2020 3:18:54 GMT
It is a symmetrical edge, so a Pinuti with a unique grip. Im hoping to clean this up and restore it. Is there anything I should know about edge geometry or construction I should know before I do so?
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Post by treeslicer on Jul 20, 2020 3:41:21 GMT
Odd hilt on that Philippine sword. The scabbard is Visayan in style. The blade looks like a typical tenegre blade in shape, but a tenegre blade is chisel ground (i.e., the edge is ground on only one side), and this looks like a symmetric grind. Many tenegres have guards like this. The handle is a bit of an oddball. The closest I usually see are on talibong, e.g., i.ebayimg.com/images/g/7JwAAOSw5j9eZYm3/s-l1600.jpgIf the blade is symmetric rather than chisel ground, you could call it a "pinuti". If chisel-ground, maybe "tenegre". Either way, you can it a "sundang" (= "sword"). The kukri is not military issue. It's weird. It looks to me like some variation on the mingling of "male" and "female" traits (Filipino blade designs have gender in some cultures) in a single bolo referred to in the Bicolano region of southern Luzon as "binakla" (which I won't translate here ). I'd bet that it's Bicolano in origin, rather than Visayan.
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Jul 20, 2020 7:13:55 GMT
If not Visayan, Bicolano would be the next choice. Btw, here is a not-too-different sword, supposedly Visayan - 3rd from the right in gramho.com/media/2272872142616118285 (alas, it's the only one without a scabbard in those photos, so can't compare the scabbard).
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Post by Nujukamma on Jul 20, 2020 13:44:44 GMT
Another group im in, suggested it looked like a sinmalayat, which comes from pangasinan....no luck on googling more info though.
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Jul 20, 2020 21:17:58 GMT
With that scabbard and hilt, I don't think it would be from Pangasinan, or elsewhere in the Ilocos. A lot, if not most, of the end-of-WW2 souvenir knives with cast aluminium hilts with finger grooves came from Cebu. This and the big hook on the pommel suggest Visayan. But it's an unusual hilt, so difficult to classify by hilt alone. The scabbard is Visayan or Bicolano (I think Visayan, but could easily be Bicolano). Symmetric grind suggests Bicolano rather than Visayan, but doesn't rule out Visayan. Not easy, since the weapons from Bicol and the Visayas have a lot in common (unsurprising when you look at a map). But I'm pretty sure it's one or the other. Here's an interesting discussion about whether a particular bolo is Visayan or Bicolano. (You could post it on that forum - that's where the real experts hang out. You need to register, and a human needs to approve it, so it isn't instant.) Here's an interesting Cebuano sword with an aluminium hilt like the souvenir knives: www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=199561170798116&story_fbid=372240820196816Classical Visayan chisel-ground blade.
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