Sword from Lombok -- comments please

tom hyle · 8th April 2005, 05:04 AM

A couple things have slid by without challenge that I don't know are true, so I'm gonna try to catch up with them. I don't remember who said them, and it doesn't much matter, anyway. K(e)ris panjang, AFAIK "long kris", has been fairly extensively questioned as a purely ceremonial/execution weapon; I've seen and heard the contention that it was a combat weapon, and that it was a response to European thrusting swords. I don't really know the truth of this, but if it's been settled in a definite way, I haven't heard about that. Second, K(e)ris in general, in its true fighting form, is an effective slashing weapon. In the first place, the tangs are not as weak as many seem to expect from their size (and some of them are actually pretty robust); they don't just go around snapping at the drop of a hat; many, I say many, old "Western" butchering knives, used for slashing as their routine purpose, have very similar tangs; indeed, about identical. Also, some k(e)ris have oval-section tangs, though I increasingly suspect this is one of those things I didn't realize the unusualness of when I've seen it before. But mainly, I think there is a misunderstanding concerning the term "slash". First, a slash is not synonymous to a hack or chop. The aspect of this I will address at the moment is that a hack or chop is an action that distributes its force across the blade, while a slash, however, distributes its force largely along the blade, and along the tang as well, and a proper slash does not unduly stress a tang. K(e)ris is a competent cut-and-thrust weapon, and also, though I don't know the extent of its use thus within its native culture, quite capable of competent and effective parries (which also distribute their force along the tang). The main concern in slashing with a modernly mounted k(e)ris is neither the blade (if it's a fighting one, and not unduly over-washed) nor the tang, but the joining to the handle, or the lack thereof; the danger is that the blade would simply pull out of the hilt.

8th April 2005, 05:04 AM	#13
tom hyle Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Houston, TX, USA Posts: 1,254	A couple things have slid by without challenge that I don't know are true, so I'm gonna try to catch up with them. I don't remember who said them, and it doesn't much matter, anyway. K(e)ris panjang, AFAIK "long kris", has been fairly extensively questioned as a purely ceremonial/execution weapon; I've seen and heard the contention that it was a combat weapon, and that it was a response to European thrusting swords. I don't really know the truth of this, but if it's been settled in a definite way, I haven't heard about that. Second, K(e)ris in general, in its true fighting form, is an effective slashing weapon. In the first place, the tangs are not as weak as many seem to expect from their size (and some of them are actually pretty robust); they don't just go around snapping at the drop of a hat; many, I say many, old "Western" butchering knives, used for slashing as their routine purpose, have very similar tangs; indeed, about identical. Also, some k(e)ris have oval-section tangs, though I increasingly suspect this is one of those things I didn't realize the unusualness of when I've seen it before. But mainly, I think there is a misunderstanding concerning the term "slash". First, a slash is not synonymous to a hack or chop. The aspect of this I will address at the moment is that a hack or chop is an action that distributes its force across the blade, while a slash, however, distributes its force largely along the blade, and along the tang as well, and a proper slash does not unduly stress a tang. K(e)ris is a competent cut-and-thrust weapon, and also, though I don't know the extent of its use thus within its native culture, quite capable of competent and effective parries (which also distribute their force along the tang). The main concern in slashing with a modernly mounted k(e)ris is neither the blade (if it's a fighting one, and not unduly over-washed) nor the tang, but the joining to the handle, or the lack thereof; the danger is that the blade would simply pull out of the hilt.