Need Info

[Gman1967]

Hi fellow Members ,

I was given a sword from a friend ,which he acquired through a house clearance. I have no info on this sword but someone said it might be Celtic .. no sure , but if anyone could help I would be pleased .
Please see Photos below .

Thanks

[polaria]

Thats a kris or keris dagger, probably from Java island of Indonesia, though it can be from Malaysia, too. You can find good general overview of these tyes of daggers from wikipedia article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris

[Gman1967]

Thanks for you reply , but you say it is a dagger , how can this be , I call it a sword because it about about 3 feet in length .
but I do understand that it now has a location for this type of blade.

[polaria]

Well, the exact terminology of what is a sword and what is not is undefined, but usually applies to things that are mainly primary combat weapons made with substantial lenght of blade, which can be used for both stabbing and cutting.

Kris is none of those really. It is a secondary combat weapon, a pure sidearm, which was carried in combat as backup weapon and outside combat for self-defence. Now so were some swords, but many swords have traditionally been also the primary close combat weapons. What is more important is that, unlike swords, kris is always the same shape and form regardless of blade lenght and has been traditionally forged in huge variety of blade lenghts from less than one foot blade to those huge 2 to 3 foot blades yours has. Then there is also the thing that it is a stabbing weapon, you can cut with it by basically slicing with stabbing motion or when recovering from stab, but the blade is not designed to be used as a cutting sword the way we usually think swords are.

[Gman1967]

Thank you for explaining the definition of the sword , while wanting I looked at the page you indicate and found the information great in explaining the origins of the Kris.

again Thank you.

[Vagrant]

It is a Kris maybe from the philippine islands.

[Vagabund]

It seems to be Indonesien kris sword or dagger? Here is an interesting video about this knife: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUBIkjRgO9c