Thai "sapatda" machete?

G

Goosey

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Mar 19, 2012
Messages
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I was reading the Wiki entry on machetes and noticed this interesting tidbit

During the 2006 riots in Bangkok, Red-Shirt protestors carried "Sapatda," which resemble an over-sized bowie knife with sawback cuts in the spine.
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I looked up "sapatda machete" and other keywords but found nothing mentioning the term "sapatda". However I found a picture of one by searching "red shirt protest machete"

red-shirt-violence-thailand.jpg



Looks like a mall ninja's dream... anybody know about these?
 
I know squat about those folks or that machete, but.....


Other than the sawback and odd, to me, handle I kinda like it. Agree though looks like a bad hollywood kung fu movie weapon, somewhat. That slingshot looks pretty mean too.
 
A bad combination of tacticool and size envy going on there. When your message is weak carry big weapons. Best to stay away from mobs like that, nothing good can happen.
 
The redshirts had no visible weapons unless they were in running street battles. In those cases that just involved what ever they had to hit, throw, fire or swing at the police, and who ever else got in the way. That machete in the picture is just a Chinese made chunk of junk, there is nothing Thai or traditional about it in any way.
 
Yeah doesn't really strike me as a traditional piece at all. :o Could be totally wrong but I'll be surprised if I am.
 
I find it interesting somebody attached this name to it... I can't find any other references to that word, so I'm totally stumped. :confused:
 
Welcome to teh interwebs and the wonderful journalism it gives us access to....

Goosey said:
I find it interesting somebody attached this name to it... I can't find any other references to that word, so I'm totally stumped. :confused:
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My parents are from Thailand, I can ask them if "Sapatda" means anything. I was actually in Thailand last year and I found for sale many similarly shaped Bowie knives. The ones I saw and purchased were 1/4 inch thick and full tang, they're made of spring steel I believe. They're made in a village in Thailand called Aranyik and they have been making edged weapons for centuries for the king's armies in the past. They've got a very good reputation in Thailand.
 
That right there looks like it might be a cheap Aranyik stainless machete. They do make low grade blades in Aranyik along with the good stuff: I had the 'fortune' of handling some in the south of Thailand last year. Interestingly, the handle looks like it came off a traditional Chinese sword. The blade looks like a cheap Chinese stainless piece though, so it may actually be Chinese like Haze said.
 
Thanks guys

Hey hey hey I found a lead with your info

This is the Aranyik sawback hunting knife... it's got an overall length of more than 20 inches and it's made of 5160

2uK5o.jpg


Maybe there's a bit more to this...
 
Yup, it may be a local term for a sawback-style chopper, but there may be good ones and crappy ones (including crappy Chinese ones)!
 
The best knives I have seen in Thailand were sold by a guy that came round on a motorbike stall selling all sorts of farm tools. They are also some of the worst I have seen so one needs to choose carefully. My cousin lives out in the sticks of Thailand and has quite a bit of experience with the local/traditional tools and the use of them.
 
Yeah it's still a big piece of metal with an edge. Even if dull I wouldn't want to get hit with one.
 
According to my parents "Sapadta" is a Thai attempt at pronouncing "Sparta". When you hear it from a Thai person you hear why it's spelt out that way. Hope that helps. I've also got that same knife you posted above, although mines a scaled down version with a 6 inch blade.
 
BRAVO2ZERO said:
According to my parents "Sapadta" is a Thai attempt at pronouncing "Sparta". When you hear it from a Thai person you hear why it's spelt out that way. Hope that helps. I've also got that same knife you posted above, although mines a scaled down version with a 6 inch blade.
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Hmmmm, interesting
thanks for the info!
 
BRAVO2ZERO said:
According to my parents "Sapadta" is a Thai attempt at pronouncing "Sparta". When you hear it from a Thai person you hear why it's spelt out that way. Hope that helps. I've also got that same knife you posted above, although mines a scaled down version with a 6 inch blade.
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That's just verified by my wife whose Thai. She also said it has a sinister rep as it sort of became a fad weapon amongst the shadier crowd mainly in the 90's and proceeded to tell me that they were known for guys wielding them while riding in motorcycles. Basically it got alot of news/airtime back then but not so much anymore though.

The fella passionately wielding it is with the red political party. The red/yellow parties cause alot of riots/turmoil in and around Bangkok.
 
FCM415 said:
That's just verified by my wife whose Thai. She also said it has a sinister rep as it sort of became a fad weapon amongst the shadier crowd mainly in the 90's and proceeded to tell me that they were known for guys wielding them while riding in motorcycles. Basically it got alot of news/airtime back then but not so much anymore though.

The fella passionately wielding it is with the red political party. The red/yellow parties cause alot of riots/turmoil in and around Bangkok.
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Cool! great info here, I was wondering if it was a known weapon :)
 
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