Hello IP,
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Sorry for the bad picture. I had lighting issues and was more interested in presenting the text. When I looked at the originals with a jeweler's loop 526 appeared to have a Indonesian or Sumatran style pamor. 528 had a cloudy line down the longitudinal center of the blade with a light towards the cutting edge and a dark side towards the spine. I can't tell if it is a lamination mark or a differential temper.
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Figs. 525 and 526 as well as my example from post #26 are typical blades from SE Sulawesi. The steel tends to be of good quality and the crafted pamor may be basic, sometimes quite blotchy laminations to twistcore or other exquisite pattern welding. Due to the long hilt, the not very heavy blades are quite agile (at least compared to the pade and even belida blades which tend to be heavier).
Those axe-like blades from Solor/Adonara seem to be quite plain and probably locally crafted from imported steel.
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Thank you all for explaining the ancestry of these weapons. Am I correct in assuming that they occupied similar places in the relative martial traditions as heavy choppers? I would imagine that given proximity these are cultures that had some contact with each other.
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Don't underestimate the tropical distances though; some cultures were much more landlocked than others. There was an extensive trade network operated by seafaring cultures for times pretty much immemorial. OTOH, many local peoples traveled rarely if ever.
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I have been noticing that posted examples have very little edge damage. Does this mean that there was little blade to blade contact in this martial arts system, i.e. no or few parries, or are surviving examples ones that did not see use?
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Many of the groups are so remote/small/etc. that hardly anything is known about their genuine MAs in the ol' days. Moreover, we need to be extremely careful with any generalisations, especially considering the extreme diversity.
However, it seems to be true that direct blade to blade contact is usually much more avoided than in medieval and later Europe; binding is not a common strategy.
Edge damage is certainly not rare though with many old blades; however, the edges are usually keen and well maintained during active service. You usually see the effects of constant sharpening, etc. At some point, old blades get either worn down and recycled or retired into more ceremonial usage. TLC over extended periods tends to obscure signs of prior use.
Regards,
Kai