Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

ariel · 9th October 2006, 02:23 AM

Sorry, I got poetic and forgot about the "academic" part
The handle is 5.5 inches long; the blade is 23" long and a tad more than 2" wide (close to the point). I do not have it's weight without scabbard, with scabbard and scabbard separately. This will surely disqualify it from ever being written up in an " academic" book

On a more serious note, it is superbly balanced and a pleasure to hold and to wield. Another thing: it is not sharpened for the first 5-7 inches, but after that .... you can shave with it!
It does have a resemblance to naval cutlasses but could just as well be used elsewhere. I thought about it being a variant of Nabur, but I have never seen one with a Nimcha handle, most of them had knuckleguards and the blade looks and feels Thai. Southern Thailand, with sizeable Muslim population? Were Thai blades exported to nearby countries?
Which brings us back to a discussion we once had: what determines the provemance or a general classificaton of a sword: the handle or the blade?
Say, we have a sword with a typical Nabur handle and a Yataghan blade. Where did it come from from the usage point of view? Shall we say it is a Borneo Parang Nabur with an Ottoman Yataghan blade or an Ottoman Yataghan with a SE Asian handle? Following Polish tradition, I would vote for the former.

9th October 2006, 02:23 AM	#8
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Sorry, I got poetic and forgot about the "academic" part The handle is 5.5 inches long; the blade is 23" long and a tad more than 2" wide (close to the point). I do not have it's weight without scabbard, with scabbard and scabbard separately. This will surely disqualify it from ever being written up in an " academic" book On a more serious note, it is superbly balanced and a pleasure to hold and to wield. Another thing: it is not sharpened for the first 5-7 inches, but after that .... you can shave with it! It does have a resemblance to naval cutlasses but could just as well be used elsewhere. I thought about it being a variant of Nabur, but I have never seen one with a Nimcha handle, most of them had knuckleguards and the blade looks and feels Thai. Southern Thailand, with sizeable Muslim population? Were Thai blades exported to nearby countries? Which brings us back to a discussion we once had: what determines the provemance or a general classificaton of a sword: the handle or the blade? Say, we have a sword with a typical Nabur handle and a Yataghan blade. Where did it come from from the usage point of view? Shall we say it is a Borneo Parang Nabur with an Ottoman Yataghan blade or an Ottoman Yataghan with a SE Asian handle? Following Polish tradition, I would vote for the former.