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A 41" Hawaiian sword made from the wood of the curly koa tree. There are about 54 shark teeth tied to its blade and is quite effective in thrusting.
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| Shahril Dzulkifli wrote: |
| A 41" Hawaiian sword made from the wood of the curly koa tree. There are about 54 shark teeth tied to its blade and is quite effective in thrusting. |
I've seen pics of swords like that before, and they hurt just to look at! I'd rather take a cut from a steel sword any day than one of those. I think the hawaiians had a range of shark-tooth edged weapons , called lei-o-mano if my memory serves, from short knife-like ones, through knuckle-dusters, and huge two-handed oar-shaped 'swords'. I imagine injuries from them would become infected easily and heal badly, if at all. Scary, scary, scary!
Here are other wooden weapons that have shark teeth.
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Attachment: 48.83 KB Attachment: 96.37 KB Attachment: 83.26 KB| Bennison N wrote: |
| Whilst discussing the dussack on the other thread, it was suggested many times over that a special thread should be created for the listing and discussion of wooden weapons. There is, of course, countless examples of wooden weapons all throughout the history of the entire world, many less technological cultures historically only ever using wooden weapons.
So I will start off this thread by showing an example from the indigenous (well, having arrived by canoe at least a good 800 years before European Colonisation, anyway) people of my homeland, the Maori people of New Zealand. Very powerful physically, and with an exceptionally warlike culture, I have heard them credited with the invention of trench warfare. This weapon is called the Taiaha, and it is still the traditional primary weapon of a Maori warrior. The use of this weapon is very highly developed, one rule of use being that one hand must be on the weapon at all times. I have seen very highly skilled kendoka with bokken easily beaten by masters of the Taiaha. Thought I'd start it off with something obscure and different... Please feel free to carry on with examples. |
Hello Bennison!
That weapon is beautiful, i must admit that such weapon + the legendary haka, can make any melee opponent to think it twice before dwelling them.
I agree, Rodolfo! Either that, or make them want to duel even more! Haha!
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This is a Fijian ceremonial war paddle made of a dark brown hardwood rising from a cylindrical shaft with carved finial, and flaring to a leaf-shaped blade with median ridge. The paddle was made by very primitive stone tools, as determined by the irregular marks left on the surface of the wood. Condition: The paddle is in good condition except for the minor chips on the edge of the leaf. The wood has a beautiful old, natural glossy patina. Length: 132.5 cm (52 1/4in). Blade length: 31cm (12 1/4 in). Blade width: 17.5 cm (6 7/8 in).
This is a Fijian ceremonial war paddle made of a dark brown hardwood rising from a cylindrical shaft with carved finial, and flaring to a leaf-shaped blade with median ridge. The paddle was made by very primitive stone tools, as determined by the irregular marks left on the surface of the wood. Condition: The paddle is in good condition except for the minor chips on the edge of the leaf. The wood has a beautiful old, natural glossy patina. Length: 132.5 cm (52 1/4in). Blade length: 31cm (12 1/4 in). Blade width: 17.5 cm (6 7/8 in).
Here is a traditional Samoan war club featuring 18 sets of sculpted relief-carved teeth. The butt end of the club is well patinated and it doesn't appear if it ever had a pierced lug. Two of the teeth on the upper right side have had museum quality restoration to the tips which is common feature on these delicate clubs. The restoration is very well done and barely detectable unless you were specifically looking for it. Height: 29" (73.5 cm); width: 5" (13 cm).
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| Bennison N wrote: |
| You can also call these weapons Mere (interestingly, "patu" also happens to be a Maori slang word for disgusting or dirty, although the "T" is pronounced more as a "D" in that instance...), and they are the standard (certainly the most popular historically...) sidearm of a traditional Maori warrior. This is actually more like an axe than a club, as they are made with a fairly sharp edge and a thin profile, especially ones made from stone.
|
Hallo , I am new to this forum , but I could not let this pass without comment .
Bennison ,
I fear that you have been misinformed .
The word "patu" is not used as slang for dirty , either with , or without a 'D' sound replacing the 'T' .
PARU is a Maori word . It translates from te reo Maori as dirty .
A PATU , stone , bone or wood , is not like an axe , it is a long knife / short sword (12 - 24 inches approx.) with the working blade running 'around 3 edges' as it were , and used in that manner .
Nor is a Patu a side arm , for many exponents , it is their main , and sometimes only , weapon .
MERE is a particular style (shape/design) of Patu .
Ehoa ,
I do not mean to takahia your post .
regards ,
Pat ,
Otautahi ,
Te WahiPounamu
| James H. wrote: |
| Yeah, while I have never done any really heavy research into this stuff but i have always thought it was really amazing how evolved some of these societies became. Kind of a look at stone age technology as if the bronze age never came about. They did do metal work but mostly just for ornamentation or ceremonial reasons. |
http://www.precolumbianweapons.com/axe.htm
http://www.precolumbianweapons.com/tumi.htm
From the looks of it, they were at the level of metal tool technology comparative to chalcolithic/early bronze age cultures of the rest of the world. If they'd had a few centuries more without western interference, I wouldn't be surprized if they'd had developed swords on their own. The only thing is that the knives they had were not of a type that easily developes into swords, like the double edged daggers, which are basically short swords. But it would only have been a matter of time before they'd be inserting bronze edges into the maquahuitls and then find out they could replace the wood by metal alltogether.
On the subject of wooden weapons, here's an article on a stone age oak club from Germany:
http://www.ostfriesischelandschaft.de/af/berumerfehn04.htm
It's 68.5cm long, and the head measures 8.5cm wide by 9.7cm high.
From the bronze age, I know wooden club looking much like a modern baseball bat, but with an octagonal cross-section (no pictures at hand at the moment).
And iron age boomerangs from the Netherlands and Germany:
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http://www.ostfriesischelandschaft.de/af/berumerfehn04.htm
It's 68.5cm long, and the head measures 8.5cm wide by 9.7cm high.
From the bronze age, I know wooden club looking much like a modern baseball bat, but with an octagonal cross-section (no pictures at hand at the moment).
And iron age boomerangs from the Netherlands and Germany:
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the macahuitl is interesting. the combination of obsidian and wood seams like it would have been a huge leap in technology.[/img]
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Attachment: 25.9 KBMaori are cool and all (even though we can beat you at rugby :p your haka is powerless against us mwahahaa! :lol: ) but what about their neighbours the friendly Aboriginals of Australia? Alas I have no pictures (hopefully some one out there does :lol: ) but I know this (well, kinda sort of know a bit maybe), they have the woomera, fire hardend spears, shields (not a weapon but I didn't know they had them till recently [geez I'm an ignorant white fella :( ]) the famous boomerang and its heavier friend the throwing stick and allegedly the Tasmanian (Woo hoo!) Aboriginals had bows and arrows and spears the length of pikes (about 6ft am I right?) to name a few!
So yeah, kiwis are ok, but don't forget the inhabitants of 60,000+ years in centeral Australia haha.
So yeah, kiwis are ok, but don't forget the inhabitants of 60,000+ years in centeral Australia haha.
| Sam Gordon Campbell wrote: |
| Maori are cool and all (even though we can beat you at rugby :p your haka is powerless against us mwahahaa! :lol: ) but what about their neighbours the friendly Aboriginals of Australia? Alas I have no pictures (hopefully some one out there does :lol: ) but I know this (well, kinda sort of know a bit maybe), they have the woomera, fire hardend spears, shields (not a weapon but I didn't know they had them till recently [geez I'm an ignorant white fella :( ]) the famous boomerang and its heavier friend the throwing stick and allegedly the Tasmanian (Woo hoo!) Aboriginals had bows and arrows and spears the length of pikes (about 6ft am I right?) to name a few!
So yeah, kiwis are ok, but don't forget the inhabitants of 60,000+ years in centeral Australia haha. |
Beat us at Rugby? :D Haha! You can't even beat us at Rugby League, mate, and it's your National Game! :p Who's the League World Champs? :D Who has the Bledisloe AND the Tri-Nations in Union as well? :D Never mind the haka being powerless against the Aussies... More like the Aussies powerless against the haka! Ah, there's always next year, right? And next Rugby League World Cup... :p :lol: :lol:
Yeah, you do have to give it up for the Aborigines... The Boomerang is awesome. The Woomera too. They also might have been the very first people to ever (EVER) use boats, because it's too far to swim to have gotten to Australia in the first place.
Aborigines are cool... I'm glad so many survived their recent history, of the last 200 years or so, to be able to explain a lot of what they've done... Their mythology is awesome too.
Quiz Time
What national representative sports team is so intimidated by the opposition that it turns it's collective back ...... huddles in a group for security or runs away to the far goal line (for some much needed practice ) .......
when it is being saluted ? :lol:
What national representative sports team is so intimidated by the opposition that it turns it's collective back ...... huddles in a group for security or runs away to the far goal line (for some much needed practice ) .......
when it is being saluted ? :lol:
| Pat K. wrote: |
| Quiz Time
What national representative sports team is so intimidated by the opposition that it turns it's collective back ...... huddles in a group for security or runs away to the far goal line (for some much needed practice ) ....... when it is being saluted ? :lol: |
Is it France!? :lol:
Speaking of Germanic (Germadic?) peoples, I once read somwhere that they found an implament in Germany that had similar properties to and Australian Aboriginal boomerang.
Just though I'd put that out there.
All over the world , boomerangs , bull-roarers and the like were in use at some stage of the culture.
As the conditions changed , so did the technology . Not all the conditions changed at the same rate .
Seems that we all have a hunter gatherer past eh :cool:
As the conditions changed , so did the technology . Not all the conditions changed at the same rate .
Seems that we all have a hunter gatherer past eh :cool:
Here is a handmade wooden Hawaiian club featuring Ku, the Tiki god of strength and healing. This beautiful and intimidating piece of art is 18" long and the wood used for this specific item is from an acacia tree also known as monkey pod. Woven with magimagi (braided from the long fibre of coconut husks).
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Last edited by Shahril Dzulkifli on Tue 09 Dec, 2008 8:26 am; edited 1 time in total
[quote="Shahril Dzulkifli"]Here is a handmade wooden Tiki club featuring Ku, the Hawaiian god of strength and healing. This beautiful and intimidating piece of art is 18" long and the wood used for this specific item is from an acacia tree also known as monkey pod. Woven with magimagi (braided from the long fibre of coconut husks).
Why do you refer to it as a 'tiki club' ?
Why do you refer to it as a 'tiki club' ?
Here is a rare, finely carved/ finished/ detailed traditional Samoan paddle club called amu'amu by the locals. It was made from the local ironwood tree and is therefore heavy. Its head is carved with authentic traditional designs on both sides and is wrapped with sennet near the top. This club measures 44" long.
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Pat, I originally referred to the club above as a 'tiki club' after the tiki carving over its handle.
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Pat, I originally referred to the club above as a 'tiki club' after the tiki carving over its handle.
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