I am making a Samoan Nifo Oti
 

I am going to make one of these. Found a couple pictures on this site of them. But it is very hard to find dimensions of them online. Do they have standard dimensions, or should I build them however I feel?

Welcome to the forum.

I have a Samoan club with 13 "teeth" on each side,nominally one inch apart, but of proportional length. You can get some scaling from the attached image. Tomorrow I'll provide some more detail and overall dimensions.

Best Regards,
Ed

Sorry for the delay.

Obviously this club, with double rows of "teeth", isn't the Nifo'oti billhook variety, bit close enough to provide reasonable dimensions. I collected this club new in Pago Pago in the early 1990s. It was a "tourist piece" reproduction as warfare was out of fashion. Yet the design is sophisticated and execution is first quality.

Refer to letters on the image for dimensions in inches.
A-F overall length 32 inches.
A-B 4.
B Thickness 1 3/4.
B Width 5 1/4.
Angle of point approx. 55 degrees.
B-C 14.
C Thickness 1 5/8
C Width 3 1/4
D Handle is a square. Thickness across corners 1 1/2. Note that the square's corners continue the length od the club as a central ridge.
C-E Handle 13 1/2
C-F 14
F is a small tab with a hole in it likely for a cord to hang the club.

Let me know if you need other info.

Regards,
Ed

Getting close to having this project done. Hopefully I can finish it by end of May. Busy the next week, so not sure if I can get it done this month.

I am so stinking close! Couple more sanding, profiling the hook, and edit the video, and this project will be done!

Welcome to the Forum.

As you have probably noticed, Oceania is not highly represented in our archives. Our late member, VANDOO, was a keen commenter on clubs in general, and especially those from the Pacific Islands. You might check out some of his threads here--the Advanced Search Function enables searching for topics by a member's name.

That's a mean piece of wood you've produced. How much does it weigh? Look forward to seeing the final version.

Regards,

Ian.

Nice work so far! May I ask which wood sort you have used for the project?

Regards,
Detlef

Nice work on cutting the "teeth"!! No doubt their geometry was very challenging, but after it was figured it could be readily produced. It shows how sophisticated the indigenous craftsmen were. Well done.

Not sure how much it weighs right now. Its for sure lighter than it started.

I am using Cocobolo as I had some for cheap from a auction.

Finished

That's a beast!

Thanks.

Here is a link to the build! Part 1 is uploaded.

https://youtu.be/QUdNQ_OoJHM

You could kill cows with that! :eek:

Hey, now... }/:o|

I finally made a stand for this. I entered it into the Indiana State fair wood carving contest.

I got 2nd place