GUNONG

tom hyle · 15th May 2005, 06:48 PM

The blade is of classic half-waved form, eh? It's an old style blade, both in terms of the proportion of length that is waved and in the forged curvature of the waves. Weird looking image on the coin.
I think gunongs are somewhat like some pedangs; more or less a simplified martialized copy of a k(e)ris, with a similar lean/curvature to the double-edged blades. I don't know what to make of the "clipped" point ones; whether that's a Luzon, European, or Indonesian influece (even more like a "tempius").
I suspect that gunong is originally a Lumad weapon, but then I feel that Moros and Visayans are for all intents and purposes originally Lumad people. Probably the oddest gunong I've seen is a Visayan version of the form, with left-handed bevel, probably for espada-y-daga fighting, at a guess.

15th May 2005, 06:48 PM	#2
tom hyle Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Houston, TX, USA Posts: 1,254	The blade is of classic half-waved form, eh? It's an old style blade, both in terms of the proportion of length that is waved and in the forged curvature of the waves. Weird looking image on the coin. I think gunongs are somewhat like some pedangs; more or less a simplified martialized copy of a k(e)ris, with a similar lean/curvature to the double-edged blades. I don't know what to make of the "clipped" point ones; whether that's a Luzon, European, or Indonesian influece (even more like a "tempius"). I suspect that gunong is originally a Lumad weapon, but then I feel that Moros and Visayans are for all intents and purposes originally Lumad people. Probably the oddest gunong I've seen is a Visayan version of the form, with left-handed bevel, probably for espada-y-daga fighting, at a guess.