CapitalizedLiving
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2007
- Messages
- 3,792
For sale is my Pira Cotabato, made in the Philippines for Traditional Filipino Weapons (TFW). TFW has a reputation for making very reasonably priced swords and knives that feature traditional designs and diehard blades. There are a lot of YouTube videos of these blades cutting hardwood, meat, and of course water bottles. I have several more that I use for test-cutting and they are the real deal.
The pira is historically a blade with a flared blade near the tip, giving it serious chopping power. The cockatoo pommel on this one adds "whippiness" as it provides maximum retention and pull-back power for repeated strikes.
This pira has a 16" blade with about 13.5" of cutting edge, razor sharp and ready for business. The blade has slightly hollowed flats, giving it a distal taper. The edge is a very lean convex scandi with a small microbevel, giving it serious chopping power and edge holding ability. The blade also features shallow and narrow fullers on both sides, reducing weight further (although probably more for looks than function).
The handle is a native Filipino hardwood with a reddish brown hue. It features nicely carved finger grooves and a pommel shaped like a cockatoo head. This is a common pattern for barong. The handle is 8" long overall with a little more than 4" of handle space. Larger hands are accommodated by the pommel hook. The handle features criss-cross engravings on the back for extra retention. There is a small spot on the back of the handle that has been filled with epoxy, see pics for detail.
The guard and handle ring are of an unknown metal, stained for rust protection. The rat tail tang is peened to the handle ring with a brass pin. Everything is tight and solid with no play whatsoever.
The sheath is a traditional style hardwood scabbard with carvings at the tip end and rattan wrapping. There is a retention clip screwed in to hold the blade by its guard, but it does rattle and doesn't have the best retention (pretty normal for these). There are also some cracks in the sheath that can be fixed with wood glue, but I didn't want to mess with it before selling it.
I have not used this sword at all, it is as pristine as the day I got it. I paid $265 for it, shipped. Here is the link to the sale page:
http://traditionalfilipinoweapons.com/shop/pira-cotabato/
Note that this is an item handmade in a very old world environment, and as a result it will have sanding and carving imperfections. Functionally, it is one of the best tools you can get for the money.
My price is $150 shipped in the US, paypal included.
The pira is historically a blade with a flared blade near the tip, giving it serious chopping power. The cockatoo pommel on this one adds "whippiness" as it provides maximum retention and pull-back power for repeated strikes.
This pira has a 16" blade with about 13.5" of cutting edge, razor sharp and ready for business. The blade has slightly hollowed flats, giving it a distal taper. The edge is a very lean convex scandi with a small microbevel, giving it serious chopping power and edge holding ability. The blade also features shallow and narrow fullers on both sides, reducing weight further (although probably more for looks than function).
The handle is a native Filipino hardwood with a reddish brown hue. It features nicely carved finger grooves and a pommel shaped like a cockatoo head. This is a common pattern for barong. The handle is 8" long overall with a little more than 4" of handle space. Larger hands are accommodated by the pommel hook. The handle features criss-cross engravings on the back for extra retention. There is a small spot on the back of the handle that has been filled with epoxy, see pics for detail.
The guard and handle ring are of an unknown metal, stained for rust protection. The rat tail tang is peened to the handle ring with a brass pin. Everything is tight and solid with no play whatsoever.
The sheath is a traditional style hardwood scabbard with carvings at the tip end and rattan wrapping. There is a retention clip screwed in to hold the blade by its guard, but it does rattle and doesn't have the best retention (pretty normal for these). There are also some cracks in the sheath that can be fixed with wood glue, but I didn't want to mess with it before selling it.
I have not used this sword at all, it is as pristine as the day I got it. I paid $265 for it, shipped. Here is the link to the sale page:
http://traditionalfilipinoweapons.com/shop/pira-cotabato/
Note that this is an item handmade in a very old world environment, and as a result it will have sanding and carving imperfections. Functionally, it is one of the best tools you can get for the money.
My price is $150 shipped in the US, paypal included.
Last edited: