Panabas, aka Bruticus Maximus...

[Spunjer]

...for some reason, those were the first words that popped on my head the first time i saw this piece. it is very heavy; weighing in at 3.5 lbs. as for the rest of the stats, well here it is.

the blade is 7/16" wide. it is about 18 inches long and the tip measured 5". one thing to notice; the blade has a diamond cross section. not quite shandigan (thx, ian ), but nevertheless it is still an uncommon type. i did try to etch it but am afraid to go any further. i just wanted to know if it was laminated or not...

the handle was kinda loose, but nothing that was hard to fix. total length is 13.25 inches. instead of the usual rattan bindings, this one has thin metal grip. the metal is evenly covered with rust. i can't tell the difference between blood rust or common rust, but i would like to assume that it is blood rust . also, there are what seems to be tacks made out of brass which really accentuate the handle. one thing that sticks out are the two bands on the end; can't tell whether it is white brass or low grade silver. there was something behind the brass tacks closest to the end of the handle that attracted my attention. seems to be it has an 'x' mark on it. also, there are three x's just on side of the handle. you would think, it'd go all the way around, but for some reason, only one side had x's on (hash marks, maybe?).

well, anyhow, just sharing with everyone my very first "real" panabas. would love to hear everyone's comments.