A Taiaha by me...

Here is a Maori Taiaha I just finished carving...full size, unlike those tourist cheapies-6 feet, 2 inches long (my height!)An interesting weapon (you know the Maori stuff is a labor of love to me!)The Taiaha was the primary weapon of the ancient Maori, and used to this day to train the New Zealand army in hand-to hand combat and in some of the military and soccer Haka war chants as well as the passed-down ancient Hakas and disciplines. The Taiaha was to the Maori warrior caste much like the Katana sword was to a Samurai, revered and passed down as family property. It was a deadly weapon when in good hands, and was used in a strict discipline of named blows, thrusts, slices, and parrys. This one is black walnut with hand-cut abalone inlays. The tufting on this one is dyed hemp fibre bound with raffia grass and seagrass braid; originals are usually either made of feather or doghair, but this looks pretty close compared to some photos. The photo of the end is to show the taper..the point is also pretty sharp. The other objects in the last photo are from the Kon Tiki Paradise Room collection..The Patu (short club) is the real thing- a 19th century original, the carving is just exquisite. It is one of the more valuable pieces here. The tiki dates to the 1930's. The Manaia bone carving is one I wear most of my waking hours; a modern piece but a true Maori carving and one I cherish.

Blah, Blah, Blah. Get you ass out here to Oasis!!!

Wow! As usual BK, your work is stunning. Do you have some Maori blood running through those veins of yours or what?

Of course he does, he just doesn't know it yet.
Yes , great as usual

[ Edited by: Basement Kahuna on 2004-01-13 09:28 ]

On 2004-01-12 22:51, RevBambooBen wrote:
Blah, Blah, Blah. Get you ass out here to Oasis!!!

I'd love to...and Casey Jones does owe me a 23.00 credit there for an aloha shirt he got from me, but, alas, air travel and rooms at the Tropics for three days get expensive for this mortgage payer.

Here is Charles with his new drum made from Honduran Mahogany.

Here he is with his new Taiaha made from a south Americaan Hardwood whose name I can't remember but was really Hard and Heavy,
. I added no stain and what you see is the natural color.It was someting like Cocobola or such.

Hear is the head of another Maori I did 12 ft tall.

Here is his stisk Drum and 2 PelicansI wish I had taken more and Better pictures of these
Your Taiahas are Much better than Anything i ever did, believe it.

Those are pretty tops, Ben...I couldn't imagine if he left he didn't take those with him. That slit drum is beautiful, and the Taiahas cover two different styles, which I dig.

I didn't know much about what I was doing then. I met Charles while cutting trees up for a land clearing company one day.
I saw this big guy walking up and doun the street in front of our work site. Finally I went over and asked what I could help him with. He seemed very shy and asked if we were throwing away the Sea Grape trees we were cutting up.
I said yes and to help himself and what size would you like,I'll cut it up.
He grinned and said he wanted it all but would settle for a trunk full .I said "You are a Maori aren't you?.
He said yes how did you know.
"You look Polynesian and have the British Accent"
Anyway he wanted the wood for drums and ended up showing me how they were made.
Interesting man.
Pardon me I rattle on too much.

[ Edited by: Benzart on 2004-01-13 10:14 ]

Pardon me I rattle on too much.

Come on! You know we can't get enough.

sorry for being slightly off topic, but all these images of the carved weapons are so intriguing ~ what resources are there to see them used in training or dramatizations of fighting ~ are there any movies about the topic?

mahalo,

j$