Curious Iranun kampilan feature

[xasterix]

Originally Posted by kino

You deliver some clean blows with that Kampilan. Doe the blade have a lot of flex?
Good work on the hilt repair.

Thanks!!! Yep it's the usual kampilan blade: light, thin, flexy, can be bent or unbent even with bare hands.

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by xasterix

Thanks!!! Yep it's the usual kampilan blade: light, thin, flexy, can be bent or unbent even with bare hands.

Question I hope you can elaborate on. The video demonstrated just how effective these swords would have been in open spaces, thank you for sharing... I am giving my banana trees a little side eye now to make sure they aren't giving me any attitude... watch out if they do.

What I am curious about by your definition.

Can be bent, I interpret as can flex with your hands, (I know I get about 2 inches of flex in the end half if the blades here), but unbent has me thinking that you can bend the blade and it stays bent rather than a tensile flex that retains its shape, and you can then unbend the bend initially made.

Am I understanding this correctly?

[kai]

Hello Gavin,

Yes, kampilan blades do have a bit of flex (and will return true if things are not overdone).

As you assumed, Ray was referring to the blade setting a bend from poorly aligned cutting attempts; usually, this can be manually straightened out again. (Obviously, this should be avoided with antique blades; OTOH, some trial & error is part of the valuable hands-on research and old blades can be surprisingly resilient...)

Regards,
Kai

[xasterix]

Originally Posted by kai

Hello Gavin,

Yes, kampilan blades do have a bit of flex (and will return true if things are not overdone).

As you assumed, Ray was referring to the blade setting a bend from poorly aligned cutting attempts; usually, this can be manually straightened out again. (Obviously, this should be avoided with antique blades; OTOH, some trial & error is part of the valuable hands-on research and old blades can be surprisingly resilient...)

Regards,
Kai

Yup, you got it... a bit of cutting error, and the kampilan blade should return if no successive attempts are made; but an accumulation of cutting errors- misalignment, hitting environmental stuff- can put a huge bend, or even a wave-like series of bends on a kampilan. It's easily straightened out though- I use my hands or knee. I bend the whole blade in one direction, then the opposite way; then do smaller adjustment bends as I go. A bent kampilan in the battlefield would set back the wielder probably 1-2 mins to get everything straight again. But the important thing is that it doesn't break- and so far I haven't broken any kampilan blade yet, only bent.

After that cutting session, my kampilan had a wave-like series of bends; my 2-handed vertical and backhand attempts there were incorrectly done, and the blade state reflected that. I straightened everything out after 2 minutes of bend/unbend with my hands.

[Gavin Nugent]

Thanks for the confirmation Xasterix.

I've nice long Panabas here that has suffered a similar fate through deflection in a previous life. One of the same type you previously presented in your test cut videos. I've made no attempt to rectify it though, something for the future custodian to fix if desired.

I find it interesting that the Panabas relies on strapping/binding friction, sometimes combined with resin to retain a blade, whilst the kampilan has the added security of pins, be they exposed or hidden. I've yet to have a Kampilan blade come to me with a loose blade, but many Panabas I've had and handled, you wouldn't swing them without new bindings and resin because so many had blades that could be pulled from the handle with little effort. It is one weapon from the region that would benefit greatly in having pins, but perhaps drilling narrow grips only weaken the hilts?

Other sword types from other regions I've seen bend 90 degrees from incorrect cutting approach angles, lesser types fractured or broken. Overall the Philippine weapons are some of the most robust examples in the edged weapons world.

[xasterix]

Originally Posted by Gavin Nugent

Thanks for the confirmation Xasterix.

I've nice long Panabas here that has suffered a similar fate through deflection in a previous life. One of the same type you previously presented in your test cut videos. I've made no attempt to rectify it though, something for the future custodian to fix if desired.

I find it interesting that the Panabas relies on strapping/binding friction, sometimes combined with resin to retain a blade, whilst the kampilan has the added security of pins, be they exposed or hidden. I've yet to have a Kampilan blade come to me with a loose blade, but many Panabas I've had and handled, you wouldn't swing them without new bindings and resin because so many had blades that could be pulled from the handle with little effort. It is one weapon from the region that would benefit greatly in having pins, but perhaps drilling narrow grips only weaken the hilts?

Other sword types from other regions I've seen bend 90 degrees from incorrect cutting approach angles, lesser types fractured or broken. Overall the Philippine weapons are some of the most robust examples in the edged weapons world.

That's an interesting observation Gavin. Of the 7 kampilans I've taken apart (opened up and detached the hilt, guard, etc), at least 2 had wobbly blades.

All of those kampilans had thin, highly flexible blades especially near the tip; I could bend all of them with my hands. However, the 4 panabas blades I've studied so far were variable; the largest (and oldest) one had a thin and highly flexible blade quality like a kampilan's; while my favorite panabas (bamboo cutter) has a rigid blade that doesn't flex even when I use my knee.