Ethnographic Arms & Armour
 

Go Back   Ethnographic Arms & Armour > Discussion Forums > Ethnographic Weapons
FAQ Calendar Today's Posts Search

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 30th June 2009, 09:05 AM   #1
Maurice
Member
 
Maurice's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 1,334
Default Another kayan mandau

Here to share pics from a kayan mandau. Old style.
Wooden handle, and wonderful blade with inlays and curls.
Unfortunately no scabbard .
Attached Images
       
Maurice is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th June 2009, 12:16 PM   #2
asomotif
Member
 
asomotif's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 2,224
Default

Hi Maurice,

Nice blade !

A little more light on the handle pics would have been nice.

Old style I guess you have been talking to Ben a lot
asomotif is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th June 2009, 04:56 PM   #3
Sajen
Member
 
Sajen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Germany, Dortmund
Posts: 8,761
Default

Very nice worked blade, congrats!

sajen
Sajen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th June 2009, 05:59 PM   #4
David
Keris forum moderator
 
David's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 7,114
Default

So what about this blade makes it "old style"?
I am also a bit curious about material choices for mandau hilts. It seems that most of the time antler or bone is the choice material, but we do see wood ones like this occasionally that are obviously nicely carved and not a cheep tourist item. Is there some reason the maker would choose wood over antler when antler seems to be the status quo?
David is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th June 2009, 06:31 PM   #5
Mytribalworld
Member
 
Mytribalworld's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 400
Default hilt kayan

Quote:
Originally Posted by David
So what about this blade makes it "old style"?
I am also a bit curious about material choices for mandau hilts. It seems that most of the time antler or bone is the choice material, but we do see wood ones like this occasionally that are obviously nicely carved and not a cheep tourist item. Is there some reason the maker would choose wood over antler when antler seems to be the status quo?
Hi David,

I can only guess but maybe because some hilt shapes are a little difficult to realize in horn. the carver is limited in size and model if he carves his hilt from horn.The shape of the piece of horn is of course the base for the hiltmodel and I can imagine that the hilt of Maurice's mandau wich is a old Kajan style is difficult to carve from a piece of horn
In those old hilts is the sidebranch in an angle of 90 degrees but mostly the angle of a deerhorn branch is 60-70 degrees.

Also mostly woodenhilts are bigger whats not possible in horn mostly.

I don't know if I'm rigth but I may be an explanation.

Arjan
Mytribalworld is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th June 2009, 06:32 PM   #6
Emanuel
Member
 
Emanuel's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 1,242
Default

I find it very interesting that, while carved in wood, the hilt nonetheless mimics the structure of a bone handle. An analogy comes to mind, with early Greek temples. Stone architectural details (metopes, triglyphs, etc...) were derived from the earlier structural wooden joinery. The material changed, but appearance was maintained out of convention, even when no longer functional or natural.

I imagine the choice of handle material was also subject to availability. Much easier to use a material that's readily at hand, than go out and hunt or stockpile material for future use .

Thoughts...

On another note, nice blade I've been puzzled by the abundance of crowits. Some of the new/touristy examples that have been shown on this forum and that pop up on ebay sometimes have lots of them.
Emanuel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th June 2009, 11:34 PM   #7
Maurice
Member
 
Maurice's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 1,334
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by asomotif
A little more light on the handle pics would have been nice.
Hi Willem. First I am not a good photographer. But feel free to make the pics of the handle lighter and enclose them in this thread....I am not a good photo-editor... But on my computer I can see all the details, so maybe it is the adjustment of the computerscreen.


Quote:
Originally Posted by asomotif
Old style I guess you have been talking to Ben a lot
Yes I have been talking with Ben a lot. But I did not discuss this one with Ben. I discussed it with someone else.

Quote:
Originally Posted by David
So what about this blade makes it "old style"?
I am also a bit curious about material choices for mandau hilts. It seems that most of the time antler or bone is the choice material, but we do see wood ones like this occasionally that are obviously nicely carved and not a cheep tourist item. Is there some reason the maker would choose wood over antler when antler seems to be the status quo?
Thanks Arjan for your explanation. I didn't have an answer on Davids question.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Emanuel
I've been puzzled by the abundance of crowits. Some of the new/touristy examples that have been shown on this forum and that pop up on ebay sometimes have lots of them.
When you take a good look, you will see that the curls are different than the "new touristic" ones. Also the blade inlay will be different than "new" ones. I attached a photo from a book of Anton W. Nieuwenhuis from before 1900.
Here you can see some curls and holes that can be found on my kayanmandau (I marked them with red lines). Newer touristic ones have different curls.
Attached Images
 
Maurice is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 08:46 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Posts are regarded as being copyrighted by their authors and the act of posting material is deemed to be a granting of an irrevocable nonexclusive license for display here.