Ten weirdest blades on the planet?
 

In the Parang Pandit thread, I made an off-hand remark about the pandit being "definitely one of the 10 weirdest blades on the planet."

Migueldiaz asked what the other nine are.

This of course stopped me, because I was just making a rhetorical comment, and I don't actually have a list of 10 weirdest blades.

But why should that stop anyone?

So, here's the topic for this list: what do you consider the ten weirdest blades on the planet, and why?

Let's limit this a bit. First off, civility is important. This isn't about politics, and sometimes a sword is just a sword.

Second point: let's limit this to "standard" weapons, by which I mean that we should focus on blades associated with particular groups and built for particular reasons, rather than one-off pieces of art that are both goofy and non-functional.

That said, here are some candidates for the Ten Weirdest Blades list:

1. The parang pandit (link). Reason it's weird? Tip to grip: These are choppers, but where most blades have some sort of a functional tip, the pandit's tip is strictly ornamental. It's there as a weight to tune the placement of the sweet spot. Also, it's got that weird bend, and then the handle is square and metal. Makes my palms blister just thinking about it, and I wonder how tough the dayaks' hands were to use these things. Let's not forget the hair decorations on the blade. Then, rather than having a pommel to keep your hand from sliding off, it has this little, useless ivory ornament, and you're evidently supposed to hook a finger on the cross-piece to hold onto the blade.
Overall? Weird.

2. The garo milam (link, picture 7). This is another all-metal sword, and it's oddly similar to the Pandit, right down to being held by a cross-piece. Both are pretty distinctive. Why people go in for all-steel blades in the tropics is certainly puzzling.

3. The European estoc (wikipedia link). Okay, a 1.3 meter-long, triangular, sharpened prybar with a sword hilt? These swords were designed in an attempt to strengthen a sword to pierce plate armor. Didn't work that well. What's weird about the estoc is that no other culture went in for such super-heavy armor as did late medieval Europe. This led to some specialized, armor-piercing weapons that really haven't been seen anywhere else, most notably the estoc.

Who's next?

F

Well I'd say the Katar and the pata would be up there in weird/unique... I mean a handle perpendicular to the blade edge? wow

The urumi flexible whip/sword could be a candidate too...

African throwing knives !!!!! :eek:
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

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

top that! :D

Got you all beat with this foot knife ;)

Thanks Fearn for starting this thread :)

I sure am glad that you're not like MI-3's Mr. Brassel (Laurence Fishburne) who gets upset ;) in such situations: "Mr. Musgrave, please don't interrupt me when I'm asking rhetorical questions." :D

All these weird blades posted so far are surely interesting to say the least.

And the zulfigar is one mean looking blade. You know if you're in trouble if your opponent happens to be wielding one ...

Haven't seen most of these blades before, thus thanks a lot for all the posts!

A wrist knife of the Turkana tribe
 

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!

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? :D

No elephant sword, Louie?:D

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. :D

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

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

The Kora
http://www.gnwtc.com/wea021.JPG
http://www.oriental-arms.co.il/photo...01786/ph-0.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/2...ngkoreazm5.jpg

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

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.

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

I'll toss one of these into the mix.

the haladie and also this one... the madu
 

used in close quarters. such as getting a friend out of the middle of a battle, or making room in the supermarket line... and it sure gets 'em out of your way at the post office!

Toa
 

Think it means Take Off Appendage . :D

The Deadly Sock Sword
 

Certainly somewhere in the top 10 :

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=sock+sword

The deadly sock sword :eek:

Another one that would still rank in my top 10 : The keris...
Personally I still find the indonesian keris a weird weapon.
Althought it is historically embeded in our country (The Netherlands)
Logic as a weapon are far to be found in the keris.
No hand guard, not symetric, waivy, becomming smaller, thinner and more brittle over the years due to warangan. :shrug:
I know there are all kinds of reasons why a keris is as it is, but still. :rolleyes:

Radleigh, thanks!

The URL of the link that must have been ".com" before is now ".co.il". So here now is the link.

And I'd be one of the many who surely appreciates Artzi's website, which retains as part of the photo gallery even the sold items :)

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?" :D ;)

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! :D

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! :)

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

i still think my kujang is pretty weird
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...ew/kujang2.jpg

Trumbash!



-- pic from Oriantal-Arms --

Chinese swords and knives
 

At this point I wont be presenting any images of the exotic antique Chinese weapons but rest assured there are some amazingly weird genuine antiques that fall in line with some of those wacky training weapons seen in some martial arts catalogues.

Gav

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) ...

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

THE NGOMBE EXECUTION SWORDS ARE SOME STRANGE SWORDS. HERE ARE SOME PICTURES I GOT SOMEWHERE UNFORTUNATELY NOT MINE. :(

hmmmmm
 

Gav

you sure about this link? A kindjal does not strike me as a weird blade. :confused:

Yep, the only thing strange about the link was me posting it, the correct link is up there now....thanks :D

West African cult knives.
 

The information I have found suggests these are cult knives and by that I did think they were non functional. I am no longer certain about the non functional idea all depends how you hold and intend to use, especially the large one which has a well formed edge to the blade. Reminds me of some of those rather odd shaped small indonesian blades. Older members might recall these examples.

Interesting Tim,

They also look like the kind of art knives that american blacksmiths make on occasion, to demonstrate how they can manipulate steel billets.

F

OK, boys and girls,
TRY TO BEAT THIS ONE!!!!!!!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ht_4698wt_1167

Sure Ariel, happy to. :cool:

This was posted by Matchlock over in another thread. It's a 17th century Italian lantern shield. Do note the toothed blade/spike sticking out of the shield boss.

F

Surely this one ought to have a ranking
 

I think this one definitely deserves a mention.

Royston

I covered that one for you Royston
 

Got that one covered Royston, I added your posting earlier, a very nice piece by the way.
I was out bid on one recently, certainly something I wish to add to my personal armoury.

Gav

Sorry, boys, no cigar.
Yours are functional: the shield more or less so, but the dao can be used with no problems.
Just imagine how to use my example! It is truly weird!

Hi Ariel,

You might want to re-read the first entry in this thread:
So, what standard is that cheese knife from hell that you showed? Does it even have a name :D:p :D


F

I have one, and also Oriental-Arms recently sold one:

http://www.oriental-arms.com/item.php?id=2957

A "Zulfikar Sousson Pata" maybe? :)

Off topic
 

Guys, off topic, though still within the parametres of the discussion, What is the correct spelling of the Sousson Pata?
I only ask as I have recently added a superb early example to my personal collection.
Is it Sousson Pata or Sosun Patta?

Thanks

Gav

Elgood actually spells it "Sosan Pattah" :shrug: I think since it's not a word originally written in our alphabet, it's more a question of phonetics than anything else.

Works for me. Since it's probably not an over-sized cheese knife, does it have a known function (social or otherwise), or is it one of those weapons that (to paraphrase Pratchett) is designed to be seen, rather than used?

BTW, I think the lantern shield falls into that category. Aside from the fact that it's a left handed weapon in a right-handed milieu, can you image trying to stab someone with a blade that comes off your elbow at a 15 degree angle to your arm, while trying not to spill hot lantern oil over your forearm, while said lantern is shining light 90 degrees away from your target? Functional is not the word here.

F