OMG what a cool sword!!!!!  I have so much to say I'm liable to forget 1/2 of it plus I'm in a room with friends to distract me. 
OMG OMG OMG 
OK 
OK calm down, Tom! 
Beautiful swords! 
I find a resemblance to the wierd big Naga sword with the iron handle and integral crossguard; no?  Are these super-rare and perhaps ceremonial, like those? 
What relation of Nagas and Dyaks, ethno-historically? Other than the handle, seems to be a pretty straitforward parang latok in concept, and so in use?  But note how it's dangling "backwards" from the man's hand; is this a method of use or is this how it's carried? 
Are the crossguards used for control like the "finger" on a pinegas? 
OMG!!!!!!! 
 
When cutting with parang latok/parang lading, as with other swords that curve, bend, or lean back (kilij is particularly similar, while this is often spoken/written of in N America in reference to Japanese swords) the back-wards angle to the blade causes it to pull thru the target with a slashlike action, even when the hand action is a simple "hack".
		 
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
			
				  
				
					
						Last edited by tom hyle; 9th March 2011 at 03:50 PM.
					
					
				
			
		
		
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