It's not much...

Yeah, that whole wall used to be tools, now just one little corner is reserved for them. Most of them ended up in a pile in my shed. Oh well. I hardly used them anyways.

Just picked up another piece very cheaply, but I think there's a good 75% chance it'll be a dud.

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It appears to be a Sudanese arm dagger. Two problems: One, the picture is horrible. It looks like he put it on a flat bed scanner or something. Two, he says it's 6 inches. Is that for the whole thing or just the blade? If the blade's 6 inches that's about right for this style of knife, but if the whole thing's 6 inches that's obviously a tourist souvenir. So it's a gamble, but it was like $13 before shipping so I'm willing to risk it.

It seems that some tribal soldiers over there still carry them. This thread has some good pictures. It sounds like they're mostly used as utility knives and for slaughtering animals.
 
I have had sad luck with sudanese arm daggers. I found one that was beautiful but the steel was so thin and fragile that it was almost like paper. The other one looked great in the picture. But when I actually got it, it was looked like a folded over piece tin from cans LOL. Both the blades were flat and very thin. I decided then and there that I would have a lot more learning to do before I would ever buy another. And there is so much research I need to do on so many things I haven't gotten to that yet LOL.
 
I've been avoiding this still of knife for a while now for the same reasons. They're very hard to judge from pictures and there's way more souvenir versions floating around than there are real ones. I'm pretty sure mine will end up being a modern tourist bring back, but maybe I'll get lucky. I'll be happy if it ends up looking like the one this fellow is holding

http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/africa/kassala-markets02.html
 
I really shouldn't have bought this but I did.
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I think it's a Pedang from Sumatra or thereabouts. The fittings look silver, although a bit of the scabbard appears to be missing on the bottom. There's some nice pamor on the blade but it looks a little washed out. Big crack in the blade towards the hilt too. Came to under $100 after shipping. Not as good of a deal as my Koumyya, but still not bad.
 
cant get enough indonesian ethnic weapons, I think that could be real silver, we wont know till you clean it up though, good luck and as usual very good buy-- you never waste your money blue, that says a lot lol. I wish I had all the cash back i spent on not so authentic blades before I knew what I was doing!-- this looks like it is a very good deal for under 100
 
I love the variety in Indonesian stuff. It seems like there's a hundred little cultures all up and down that area and they all have their own unique style. I found a guy with a very similar one except his is horn and brass and much plainer in decoration. His appears to be missing a bit off the end as well. Or maybe they're supposed to look like that?

you never waste your money blue, that says a lot lol.
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If only that were true... I've bought my fair share of stinkers. And almost every time I knew something wasn't right about them before I pulled the trigger, but I convinced myself they were authentic just because I wanted them to be. I have a feeling that Sudanese arm dagger is going to fall into that category.
 
I suspect that little missing end piece is in an area that takes a lot of abuse and most have probably been knocked off at some point. I can see where it fitted and the hole is busted out where a pin apparently held it in place. I've been curious what the missing piece might look at ever since you posted the first pictures. I suspect it was ornamental but would be nice to see what they originally had it looking like.
 
The Sudanese arm dagger came in today...
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... and it's a real dagger! Blade's 6 inches. The tang goes all the way to the end of the hilt and is peened on. The blade looks like a piece of metal that was filed into the shape of a blade rather than forged, yet those marking stamped into the blade look like they were stamped into a hot piece of metal rather than a cold one. So maybe it was forged and then heavily filed down. Edge and point are both super sharp.

I'm not sure what kind of wood the hilt is made of. It looks painted or shellacked black, but even the inside of the hilt where the blade goes in is black. Maybe they dunked the whole thing in paint so even the insides were painted. The scabbard's leather obviously but the white bits feel like they're made of raw hide. There's a small copper wire with a loop at the end attached to the throat of the scabbard. I don't know if this served some functional purpose or if that's where the vendor attached a price tag.

I'm going to have to find out what those markings mean on the blade. Both sides have the waves at the top, but the bottom marks look like some sort of writing, and is different on each side. I doubt this thing's very old, but it's a real sturdy and functional dagger that's for sure. Very happy with it considering what I paid.
 
looks really cool, SE asia favors that "butcher "blade thing with a heavy chopping profile
 
Hey Blue I woke up in the middle of the night recalling that you wanted me to do something awhile back and it got delayed and now I don't remember what it was. Hope your not waiting for me to do something I'm forgetting about? I think you was gonna send something so then it wouldn't totally be my fault unless it got here and I already lost it someplace but I don't think that happened.

Please let me know I'm ok or at least so so. I gotta renew my paid membership so I temporarily can't PM or email.
 
A couple of nice additions there Blue, I am glad the Sudanese turned out to be a petty decent one. I hope you are able to "translate" the blade markings. It is always so interesting because it generally helps fill in the story of the blade.

The Bankung looks sort of familiar LOL. But you say it is new? Is it a work blade or a sword?
 
I asked around about the markings on the arm dagger, nobody had a clue. One guy said I looked like the writing from the Predator movies, so I'm going with that. It's a Predator dagger.

The bankung is definitely a working brush clearing machete style blade. It's very top heavy and unwieldy. The blade gets thicker at the sheepsfoot part of the tip. I wouldn't want to use it to clear brush actually. Maybe finger thick vines. So far I'm not impressed, but I haven't used it yet.
 
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And because I love credit card debt, I bought this. It's the remains of a Spanish colonial espada. I don't know what colony yet, could be the Philippines or central/south America. I can't tell from the pic if the blade's a yatagan shaped chassepot bayonet, or if it's a sword that's been shapened a bajillion times

I also got another Takouba. The fullers look forged, but hard to say from the pics.
 
I'm steering clear of them credit cards completely. They are a lot of fun till the piper comes to call.

I owe him a LOT. Not my fault like everything else here but I'm still responsible.
 
Blue, I love the granny knots :D Could at least have used squre knots couldn't they? Look forward to additional details as you find out more.

Bawanna, yep, that responsibility stuff is sticky. Once ya got it, you can't seem to get rid of it. But that just might be better than the alternatives.
 
Here's a little something I got from David Crawford. He frequently posts on the "KnifeMaker's Market: Knives & More for Sale"

It's called a XXXL Chopper :D
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I really like it.
 
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