Immortalized as Roman Pila   these spears gave the Roman soldier a huge battlefield advantage over his opponents.  But it was the combination of the short sword and the Pila that made him so deadly.

Immortalized?  You bet.  That’s because as far as I was concerned a Roman soldier had a Pilum and a  short sword called the Gladius.  My Latin grammar taught me that  Pila was the plural form for more than one pilum.   While  two swords or more were gladii.  A dagger was a pugio, and a sword was a scutum.  But a gladius was not just any sword.  It was a very special short sword that typically had a 20 inch blade that was absolutely devastating at close quarters.

As for the Roman Pila, no spears came close to being as effective

Roman soldiers trained  intensely to use the gladius and pilum in deadly concert with each other.

You will find that when it comes to bowie knives, swords, kukris, and firearms that

I am a purist who insists on the utmost historical authenticity.

I had to take three years of Latin.  Each month all of us had to take a 200 question test in Latin grammar and vocabulary.  If we didn’t score at least 90 %, we’d have to spend two hours after school the next Friday correcting each of our mistakes over and over again.  Because of such intense study of Latin and my deep love of History that I revere what is truly authentic.

When I bought my first pilum that had been made somewhere in India, I was totally disgusted.

I found out how fraudulent the Indian made   Roman Pila were.

So help me God, if I am to be over 90 percent accurate with my gladii, Roman pila,  scuta and pugios, I demand that all historical weapons I put on my wall are just as authentic.

I have a lot to say about both  Roman pila and gladii.  But I’ve said it already in my Looking Glass online magazine.  I invite everyone who’s sincerely interested in the gladius and Roman pila  to visit the following two links where you will also find my you tube videos.

the Roman Pilum

The Roman short sword or Gladius.

Does the Tora Blades Mk1 Kukri beat the craftsmanship of Himalayan Imports finest kukris?

It’s almost impossible to beat the craftsmanship of a Himalayan Imports  Kukri.  But the Tora Blades Mk1 Kukri  is of equal quality. That’s saying a lot because the Himalayan Imports kukris are simply superb.

The Tora Blades Mk1 Kukri  Video

Tora makes History come alive in its creations.

Tora Blades puts History into each of its creations.  In this respect Tora Blades eclipses the competition.  Himalayan Imports is either unwilling or unable to create Historically authentic blades.

Now, I’m not about to say that the Himalayan Imports M-43 bests similar models from competing companies. Or that it falls short of the models from Tora Blades.  It is what it is.   The  M-43 performs exceptionally well at chopping down big trees and cutting large logs almost  as fast and effectively as an axe.

The historical M-43 was actually a later version of the Mk2 used during the World Wars.  The military M-43’s and MK2’s had much thinner blades than the Himalayan Imports versions and were normally about 10 ounces lighter in weight. The HI M-43 is a leviathan  in comparison. So, as a battle blade the Tora Blades Mark I outperforms the Himalayan Imports competition.

Which Kukri is the best battle blade, a Tora Blades Mark II battle blade, Himalayan Imports M-43, HI World War II model, or HI Gelbu Special?  I have all four, and each one has unique strengths that make it superior to the other three.

The HI M-43 is the biggest, baddest and most devastating Kukri

on trees and the most capable of severing heads.  But it weighs a porky 36 ounces  That’s as heavy as most swords.  So you’d think this is the one you’d want for combat or week long expeditions into the wilderness.  Himalayan Imports closely patterned the M-43 after the Mark II kukri that the Nepalese Gurkha soldiers  used during World War I and II.

But the HI M-43 is a far cry from the Mark II battle blade that Gurkas actually carried.

The Tora Blades Mark II, that weighs barely more than half the HI M-43 just might be a better selection.   The curves of the M-43 closely imitates  the historic weapons of both World Wars.   But that’s where the resemblance ends.   Tora Blades takes the prize for historical authenticity for wartime kukris.   And the Tora Blades Mark II is about as close as it comes to the blades that actually saw combat in both conflicts.  Then there’s the Himalayan Imports Gelbu Special which doesn’t even pretend to be designed as a battle blade.  To find out which is the best battle blade of them all this video just might give you the answers you seek.