English: "The hilt of kris are either straight or slightly curved (most common on cockatua pommel hilts). Pommel variations are many, however the most common are the horse-hoof (the most distinctive variation coming from the Sulu Sultanate) and the cockatua. Commonly the pommel is made of beautiful hardwood burl (such as banati) with the hilt being wrapped in a lacquered natural fiber (such as jute). However on higher end kris, belonging to the upper class, the pommel would be made of such exotic materials as ivory, silver plating, solid brass, etc... with hilts often lavishly bound with silver or swasaa (an alloyed mixture of gold similar to red-gold) bands frequently with braided silver wire interspersing the chased bands. Large junggayan (a Sulu term denoting the elongated style, though elongated styles can be found all over Moro-land) and Danangan (literally meaning decorative, but used most commonly to describe the large embellished cockatuas) style cockatuas appeared in the 19th century, while older kris pommels sported medium to small cockatuas. The oldest krises are found with hilts of a much diminutive stature, with the cockatua versions retaining only vestigial elements of a crest. The axis of the hilt (whether straight or curved) is always at an angle to conform the blade angle, when properly held with the guard up, to the arc of a circle. Thereby the angle of the blade when swung conforms to the cutting arc of the wielder maximizing the cutting potential of the blade." From <http://home.earthlink.net/~federicomalibago/moroweapons.html>

The above example is that of a simple hilt, wrapped in lacquered fiber, to improve grip. Having a non-ornate hilt and pommel, the above kris must have come from a typical Moro warrior.

The above kris' overall photo can be seen here <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kalis_seko_kris_moro_sword_2_overall.jpg>

The kris is a 19th century piece, and it came from the Cheney Cowles museum (Spokane, Washington).

Other uploaded materials by the same author are here:

(a) Luzon weapons; (b) Visayan weapons; (c) Moro weapons; and (d) Lumad (non-Moro Mindanao) weapons