Cambodian working knives

[Iain]

Originally Posted by Ian

Iain,

Thanks for posting these. Khmer influence certainly diffused to nearby areas, and I have seen Thai and Lao pieces that are reminiscent of some of the ones you show. What struck me as perhaps distinctive was the wooden lotus bud emerging from a brass rhizome on the hilt. This seems a more common representation of the lotus bud on Cambodian/Khmer edged weapons than seen on Thai or Lao swords. Thoughts?

The small "habaki" on your second example is reminiscent of some southern Vietnamese swords, perhaps traceable to past Japanese influence.

Hi Ian, thanks for your comment. yes the lotus bud style is often associated with this area and also with Khmer items, although certainly not exclusive to them.

The habaki feature I think is harder to pin to direct influence given the large Chinese influence in these regions as well, habaki, tonku, tomato, tomahto...

I think we can safely say these sorts of working knives, with blades are are adept at splitting materials like palm leaves, rattan, bamboo etc. were common across a very wide area and that attribution is probably best made on little features like the bronze ferrules and lotus bud pommels etc.