Ten weirdest blades on the planet?

[Emanuel]

African throwing knives !!!!!
Here's a Mbanja knife from Luc Lefebvre's site Weirdest, freakiest, most vicious-looking things on the planet.

Some of the Indian Zulfiqar/sosoun-pata/serrated blades are pretty crazy too, as well as the old South Indian flamboyant swords.

Emanuel

[KuKulzA28]

what about a bagh nakh? or a bagh nakh with a bichwa blade?

top that!

[Lew]

Got you all beat with this foot knife

[Montino Bourbon]

This one has a protective cover around it... I'm surprised that no one here thought of this!

And a finger knife, nasty little thing to keep hidden!

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by Montino Bourbon

This one has a protective cover around it... I'm surprised that no one here thought of this!

And a finger knife, nasty little thing to keep hidden!

On the left, the wrist knife is called an "Ararait" of the Turkana tribe.
On the right, the finger knife is a variant of the Ngigolio knife of the Turkana, but bears some resemblance to the Corogat, and finger knife used by several tribes for extracting teeth.

For what its worth

Dave A.

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by LOUIEBLADES

Got you all beat with this foot knife

Thanks Lew

I suppose those arrows in the foot knife would be the equivalent of the "Front toward enemy" [idiot-proofing] sign on a modern claymore mine?

[fearn]

Originally Posted by LOUIEBLADES

Got you all beat with this foot knife

No elephant sword, Louie?

And here I left off one of my favorites, "the" te unun from Kiribati, Stone's "tebutje." (since te is equivalent to the, "the te unun" is redundant). For those who don't know it, it's one of those neat shark-tooth "swords" from the former Gilbert Islands. Not exactly bladed, unless you count shark's teeth as blades. Then it's got lots of blades.

Glad you're enjoying this Miguel. I'm interested in seeing what pops up next.
F

[Queequeg]

I'm surprised this one hasn't come up yet. I'd love to get one, myself:

The Kora




I'd love to see some test cutting done with one on sides of beef and ballistic gel dummies. They look fearsome.

[ariel]

Please look at my avatar: the Laz Bichaq.
You cannot align the blade with its supposed target ( the enemy), but the bifurcated , humongous horn pommel will sure as hell gouge you own eyes.
Also, the size of the scabbard prevents you from bending, turning around or tucking a functional knife ( just in case!!!) under the belt.
Beautifully exotic and nigh useless: an analog of the AMC Gremlin.

[sirupate]

I've seen one of those used at Dashain in Nepal, poor Buffalo didn't stand a chance.

[CourseEight]

I'll toss one of these into the mix.

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by fearn

Glad you're enjoying this Miguel. I'm interested in seeing what pops up next.

Thanks, too. The pleasure is mine.

And so that I don't unwittingly throw a curved ball next time, let me please tell you in advance my next query: "What would be the 10 weirdest blades in other planets?"

Originally Posted by ariel

Please look at my avatar: the Laz Bichaq. You cannot align the blade with its supposed target ( the enemy), but the bifurcated , humongous horn pommel will sure as hell gouge you own eyes. Also, the size of the scabbard prevents you from bending, turning around or tucking a functional knife ( just in case!!!) under the belt. Beautifully exotic and nigh useless ...

Thanks Ariel, and that's the reason why I've always enjoyed the earlier thread on this strange sword.

The way you described it, I'm beginning to think their traditional enemy must have surreptitiously designed the sword for them!

Levity aside and moving on, the Aztecs' wooden sword or club is not a blade but is a weapon nonetheless. They're wooden precisely because they were designed not to kill.

Which leads me to my next point -- on the one hand sometimes we can only scratch our heads every time we see a strange weapon with seemingly useless features.

On the other hand we know that these folks were not stupid (and forumites certainly have the highest respects for these warriors of old).

And so that's the reason why I find this topic very interesting ... it makes us leave our old assumptions and forces us to think out of the box.

Just my two cents ... and thanks again to all!

[fearn]

Hi Miguel,

If you're puzzled about some of these weapons, I can only refer you to my favorite philosopher, Terry Pratchett.

Here's one of my favorite quotes from The Fifth Elephant. The scene: the hero has just taken a rather nasty concealed crossbow away from an assassin and is examining it in front of the assassin:

"'This is not a weapon. This is for killing people,' he said.
'Uh...most weapons are,' said Inigo.
'No they're not. They're so youdon't have to kill people. They're for...for having. For being seen. For warning. This isn't one of those. It's for hiding away until you bring it out and kill some people in the dark.'"

I think Pratchett would call most of these blades weapons.

F

[kronckew]

i still think my kujang is pretty weird

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by fearn

The scene: the hero has just taken a rather nasty concealed crossbow away from an assassin and is examining it in front of the assassin:

"'This is not a weapon. This is for killing people,' he said.
'Uh...most weapons are,' said Inigo.
'No they're not. They're so youdon't have to kill people. They're for...for having. For being seen. For warning. This isn't one of those. It's for hiding away until you bring it out and kill some people in the dark.'"

I think Pratchett would call most of these blades weapons.

That was profound Fearn, thanks

Some people would argue about the semantics but I wouldn't. I think the hero put things quite beautifully!

I couldn't agree more. Like in the US, over 90% of the policemen go over their careers without firing a gun. The sidearm is there more as a deterrent. Just like these blade "weapons" (but of course if push comes to shove, the other function comes to play) ...

[David]

Originally Posted by fearn

If you're puzzled about some of these weapons, I can only refer you to my favorite philosopher, Terry Pratchett.

Here's one of my favorite quotes from The Fifth Elephant. The scene: the hero has just taken a rather nasty concealed crossbow away from an assassin and is examining it in front of the assassin:

"'This is not a weapon. This is for killing people,' he said.
'Uh...most weapons are,' said Inigo.
'No they're not. They're so youdon't have to kill people. They're for...for having. For being seen. For warning. This isn't one of those. It's for hiding away until you bring it out and kill some people in the dark.'"

I think Pratchett would call most of these blades weapons.

F

Yes! My favorite all-time writer and (yes) philosopher as well. Loved the Fifth Elephant!