what were the working blades of India?

[G. McCormack]

Great thread! Nice to see all these pics of 'working blades' doing work! Serves as a good reminder- the forum is about WEAPONS not butterfly nets.

Some of those pics from that festival are really powerful- the silhouetted image of a Kora in profile see through dense mist/smoke, pretty eerie.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by G. McCormack

... Nice to see all these pics of 'working blades' doing work! Serves as a good reminder- the forum is about WEAPONS not butterfly nets...

I hope that encouraging such procedure will not lead us to other grounds, like starting to post in the open the type of explicit images that are hidden in the link, which would not be the vocation of this forum ... in my humble perspective .
Study and investigation of weapons, yes; that would be what the forum is about. Not (necessarily) the culture of weapons in the theatre of crude action, other than in an unfrequent contextual support.
Of course i might be wrong, but this is the way i feel it and i had to express it.
Fernando

[Rick]

I think the ones that were posted in the forum were fine .

We don't do gore .

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Rick

I think the ones that were posted in the forum were fine .

We don't do gore .

Gore, that's the term; it could have saved me a lot of words.
This ting of being an illiterate foreign speaker .

[KuKulzA28]

Originally Posted by Rick

I think the ones that were posted in the forum were fine .

We don't do gore .

I don't think there is anything wrong with showing gory pictures as long as the discussing is not about the gore. But there should be a good reason for them or, why are they there?

But having said that, how often do we need gory pictures in our discussion anyways? This forum is a lot more dedicated towards the cultural and historical aspects of weapons than the use of and results of using such weapons. There's plenty of machete-wound pictures on Google images if anyone wants to see what happens to a survivor of a machete-fight. Since this forum doesn't discuss fighting with weaponry much, I doubt gory pictures will be a problem. Plus, most of you all here seem pretty gentlemanly and considerate.

And plus, if there is a discussion on the cutting power of say, tulwars, the use of our imagination and historical accounts would be more humane than cutting an animal or human with a tulwar and taking pictures - even if its more conclusive.

[spiral]

Always A shame to miss a wedding Rick.

Originally Posted by Henk

Hi Fernando,

My socket is not an extension of the blade but attached to the blade and finished as was it an extension of the blade. But the weldings are vissible. It is more the similarity with the handle.
The blade looks more like an aruval.

I'm still wondering if mine is an Indian or Nepalese piece after all?

Ive never seen such a peace before Henk, it blade smithing & bolster could be Nepalese workmanship to my eye, but the rounded handle butt doesnt seem Nepali to my eye.

India perhaps? I dont know.

Originally Posted by Tatyana Dianova

Presumably the pair of rice sickles from Nepal:

They look like sickles from Nepal to me Tatyana, I saw a women cut long grass with them as well to feed buffalo while there. I think sickles like kukri have many uses as well as rice cutting. I recall that they call them Hansiya.

spiral

Originally Posted by fernando

I hope that encouraging such procedure will not lead us to other grounds, like starting to post in the open the type of explicit images that are hidden in the link, which would not be the vocation of this forum ... in my humble perspective .
Study and investigation of weapons, yes; that would be what the forum is about. Not (necessarily) the culture of weapons in the theatre of crude action, other than in an unfrequent contextual support.
Of course i might be wrong, but this is the way i feel it and i had to express it.
Fernando

I must point out Fernando that the picutres in the link were not "hidden" as you say.

I gave warning of contents within the link. Also belive me there were photos I choose not to post of wounded & clearly distresed animals.

I too do not want this or for that matter other forums I freqent to be forums of gore either.

I could have cropped the photos I posted here to just show the tools/weapons in them , but somehow that looses so much context when it comes to these enthnographic weapons.

I am sorry if my warning with the link wasnt explicit enough & you saw something you would rather not, that certanly wasnt my intention.

I thought about what I posted on each forum & gratuitous gore wasnt my intention.

I leave The Animal rights societys in Nepal & India to have the goryist photos... It served thier cause. Mine was to feature ethnographic weaponary in its cultural context.

Appologies if it offended anyone. It certanly wasnt my intention.

Spiral

[Rick]

You gave plenty of warning Spiral .

No worries .

[fernando]

Hi Jonathan,

Originally Posted by spiral

... I must point out Fernando that the picutres in the link were not "hidden" as you say...

The term "hidden" was sort informatic lexicon; not an accusation ... precisely the contrary.

Originally Posted by spiral

... I gave warning of contents within the link. Also belive me there were photos I choose not to post of wounded & clearly distresed animals...

That was an excelent decision, which i greatly consider.

Originally Posted by spiral

... Appologies if it offended anyone. It certanly wasnt my intention...

I didn't feel offended myself; what i wasn't ready was to see it being put on the stage.

My best regards.
Fernando

[spiral]

ahhh I see Fernando thank you for the clarification, I guess the remote & long range internet communication & the differing use of lexicon or vocabulary allowed me to percieve the word "hidden" in its most literal & basic sense, as I couldnt see you facial expresions ,use of hands, the movement of your eyes & other body such language.

I am releaved you were not offended & hope you found at least one or two of the pictures interesting or informative.

Originally Posted by G. McCormack

Some of those pics from that festival are really powerful- the silhouetted image of a Kora in profile see through dense mist/smoke, pretty eerie.

Thanks! Yes I agree I also thought that the silhouetted photo certanly has a powerfull prescence.

[QUOTE=Rick]You gave plenty of warning Spiral .

No worries . [/QUOTE

Cheers Rick, I certany tried!

[Billman]

Hi all
Just joined the forum as a collector of edge tools, not weapons, in order to be able to share knowledge with others. Any tool can be used as a weapon, either because of its nature, e.g. long handles slashers are similar to the bill of the english footsoldier of the Middle Ages, or because it is all they have available, e.g. the genocide in Rwanda wher the principal weapon was the machete.
As this thread is on tools, rather than weapons, and as the differences are sometimes so negligable (hence many current European agricultural tools being sold in the USA as medieval weapons) it is not a dicergence from the topic of the forum, but a way of extending understanding.
Edge tools of the world can be divided into several broad groups:
Billhooks/machetes/cane knives/ parangs etc
Sickles
Long handled slashers
Axes
Knives
Adzes
These are very broad groups, and some tools will fall midway between two groups... My own passion is the humble billhook, the most versatile tool of the lot - vastly underated - and in the wrong hands a vicious and nasty weapon...
For the best collection of images of ethnic tools/weapons have a look at the Dutch Museum of Ethnology at Leiden:
http://www.rmv.nl/index.aspx?lang=en
Search the database their for the hundreds of images in the collection