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Kron, that unique handmade soul, is exactly why I said I LOVE that hanger. I can't wait to see some more pics once you have it inhand. Hope Customs there is more "efficient" than the guys over here. If I remember right, there were a couple of "trees" in Unalaska Kron, Out in front of the Grand Aleutian Hotel. Might have been hard for a full sized mermaid to hide behind as they were potted and pretty small but...
 
this place?
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way after my time there. things must be picking up. anyway, the one time we stopped in dutch harbour for one day one weekend, we moored at the old navy base & were basically restricted to the ship. we did get a beer ration. two cans of the weak stuff (3.2 beer).

had my promotion to full LT 'wetting down' party in a bar on one of the other islands further west, forget which tho. about 5 houses in the village & 1 bar. we drank it dry & they closed the bar - i gather they were not expecting a replacement shipment for about a week. it was 02:00 (2 a.m. for you landlubbers) and the sun was still out of course. there was an abandoned steam crane on the pier, so we of course tried to start it while we waited for the msb to come pick us up. too rusty tho. in lieu of throwing me in the frigid water, i had beer poured all over me (before they ran out). i had to also pay the bar bill.
 
My dad got sent up many many years ago to fence the Adak National Forest. All his tools, wire fencing, pipe etc all shipped up from Seattle.

I don't think it was over 200 feet of fencing. Didn't need a wide angle lense to capture the whole forest.

Curious what it looks like today after all these years.
 
I bought this awhile ago but I don't think I posted it. It's a Gunong from the Philippines. The Gunong is a traditional small dagger, sort of a baby Kris that became popular after the Americans banned the carrying of larger blades.

They usually have steel blades but this one has a copper blade. Why make a blade out of copper? The most likely explanation is it's to get around any magical protection your intended target has against iron blades or bullets. Philippinos carried magical talismans called Anting Antings that would offer them protection from attacks or the power to become invisible, stuff like that. So if the guy you want to stab has an Anting Anting protecting him against iron/steel weapons, the obvious solution is to stab him with a copper blade! I also read copper blades were believed to leave wounds more likely to become infected, so that's another possible explanation.

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The tip of the blade is smashed in and bent, so somebody tried to stab something with it.
 
Once again, way cool Blue. You got some mighty interesting toys in your toy box for sure.
 
blue lander said:
I bought this awhile ago but I don't think I posted it. It's a Gunong from the Philippines. The Gunong is a traditional small dagger, sort of a baby Kris that became popular after the Americans banned the carrying of larger blades.

They usually have steel blades but this one has a copper blade. Why make a blade out of copper? The most likely explanation is it's to get around any magical protection your intended target has against iron blades or bullets. Philippinos carried magical talismans called Anting Antings that would offer them protection from attacks or the power to become invisible, stuff like that. So if the guy you want to stab has an Anting Anting protecting him against iron/steel weapons, the obvious solution is to stab him with a copper blade! I also read copper blades were believed to leave wounds more likely to become infected, so that's another possible explanation.

View attachment 556835View attachment 556834View attachment 556833View attachment 556836

The tip of the blade is smashed in and bent, so somebody tried to stab something with it.
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Do you have a special interest in knives, and if so, what are they, if you don't mind me asking? You do seem to a nice collection.
 
Nope, I don't specialize in anything. One week it's Philippino, next it's Sudanese, the week after that it's European. Anything that looks interesting to me! This copper Gunong was a suprise to me. I thought it was a steel blade that had snapped and been repaired with solder, but the whole blade is copper. Apparently they're pretty rare.

Recently I've been doing a lot of research into Anting Antings. They usually take the form of an amulet or scroll or shirt or tattoo. One of the weirder kinds of Anting Antings is some sort of mucous like globule you swallow. When you're on your death bed you're supposed to cough it up and give it to your first born or heir, and he's supposed to swallow it! Sounds like a phlegm ball to me.
 
No, that's a little too strange for me. It looks like you can buy Anting Anting amulets on e-bay, but I read to make them "work" you have to perform some sort of ritual in a graveyard on Good Friday or something like that. Not interested!
 
Thanks. Sometimes you learn things you wish you hadn't learned, though. Some of this stuff is downright creepy.

And now to change the subject to a more pleasant topic: Headhunting!

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This is a Mandau from Borneo I bought from our very own Gehazi. Traditionally they were used for headhunting as well as a general purpose jungle knife/machete. According to Gehazi mine was probably made in the 60's so it probably never took any heads. The colonial authorities in Borneo more or less stopped the headhunting practice and only briefly re-legalized it during WWII (assuming the heads were Japanese).

The decorations on the hilt are probably supposed to be leeches. It's "hair" feels like boar bristles. Had this mandau been used in head hunting the hairs would have been actual hairs from a head it collected.
 
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So jealous of your guys' finds. A Mandau is on my list for sure, as is a laraw...and a dha...I've got a long list.
 
I finally got around to buying a Thai e-nep. This one is a bit different than the usual Aranyik ones, particularly the hilt isn't full tang and the blade shape is a bit curvier. I'm sure mtngnr wouldn't approve but I really like the crusty forge scale on the blade. It should arrive in a week or two.

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I also picked up three "Northern Thai" knives. First one looks a bit like a pisau raut, an indonesian woodcarving knife. It's probably for splitting rattan, but I'm going to try carving with it too. The blade is 6 inches long

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This one appears to be the same blade but with a steel pipe welded to it for the hilt. I don't think it's made from a single piece of metal.

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And finally this one. It reminded me a bit of a Hmong knife. The blade is 9 inches long.
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Probably just a hidden tang secured with epoxy. I don't see a pin or anything . That's more or less the traditional style in that part of the world. The only ones I've seen pinned are for western buyers.
 
Very nice Blue! I like the round traditional handles like the ones you got. The welded pipe is just that. They squeeze a piece of pipe down on the blade and weld it. Theres about a quarter to half inch of ricasso inside the pipe. They are great for mounting on a haft. I like that E-Nep shape.
The next one I get will be some sort of sickle I can mount on a haft.
 
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