PI Kris for ID and Comments

Bill · 13th March 2005, 11:55 AM

Zonneveld's book has a old kris on pg 16 that has the stem of the stirrup go into a horn hilt. The tang is retangular and the stirrup appears to have some age but could have been a replacement to go with an updated hilt; but it seems to be somewhat of a puzzel. If rotation is a problem, I think the blade flying out of the hilt would be next. I think the second example that Moose posted is a kris clearly made to have the stirup (& is also a slashing sword), where with some "18thC" kris, I think it is a add on. So, you've got rotation, seperation of hilt & blade, seperation of guard & blade (may have been a large factor, if the spirit were to get out), & it would even add to the strength of the hilt when striking. I'll add one more: I believe the origination of the kris was for beheading, its earlist form was with a small round tang; if you used it in a sawing manner you would likely pull the hilt right off the tang. Up-grading the tang to the "robust" round tang solves a strength issue but the stirrup would still be needed for the "pulling" motions. Development of the oval & then the retangular tang would still have the "pulling" issues; but now it has fully developed from a thrusting & beheading sword to a slashing sword & new benefits are found. So I would have to say that with all the benefits of the stirrup, it was bound to become traditional.

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13th March 2005, 11:55 AM	#17
Bill Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Chicago area Posts: 327	Zonneveld's book has a old kris on pg 16 that has the stem of the stirrup go into a horn hilt. The tang is retangular and the stirrup appears to have some age but could have been a replacement to go with an updated hilt; but it seems to be somewhat of a puzzel. If rotation is a problem, I think the blade flying out of the hilt would be next. I think the second example that Moose posted is a kris clearly made to have the stirup (& is also a slashing sword), where with some "18thC" kris, I think it is a add on. So, you've got rotation, seperation of hilt & blade, seperation of guard & blade (may have been a large factor, if the spirit were to get out), & it would even add to the strength of the hilt when striking. I'll add one more: I believe the origination of the kris was for beheading, its earlist form was with a small round tang; if you used it in a sawing manner you would likely pull the hilt right off the tang. Up-grading the tang to the "robust" round tang solves a strength issue but the stirrup would still be needed for the "pulling" motions. Development of the oval & then the retangular tang would still have the "pulling" issues; but now it has fully developed from a thrusting & beheading sword to a slashing sword & new benefits are found. So I would have to say that with all the benefits of the stirrup, it was bound to become traditional.