The Filipinos have many traditional beliefs which may appear weird to other cultures especially the westerners. Most of our traditional Filipino martial artists believe that the bladed weapons must be in proper length to become effective in a real fight encounter. How will they determine a fighting bladed weapon?

Here are the steps in determining the fighting sword:
1. Place the sword on the top of the table.
2. Measure the length of the blade from its base to the tip. This excludes the handle. Maybe you can use long strip of paper about half-inch wide. Traditionally, coconut leaf was used because of its availability and easy to cut into pieces.
3. Divide your measuring material into two equal parts.
4. Lay the other half on the top of the blade from its base.
5. The other half should be cut into pieces based on the width of the blade at the end of the other half of your measuring material.
6. Place and arrange the cut pieces in a manner shown in the illustration below.

Interpretation of the last possible figure formed by the cut pieces of the measuring material:

Figure 1
This is the serado or close figure. The Ilongo(Ilongo-speaking people in the Island of Panay, Philippines) fighters will not use this kind of bladed weapon in a real fight encounter. They believed that this sword is good only for cutting firewood or for slicing tomatoes. Funny!

Figure 2

This is called buhang which means open. This kind of sword or any bladed weapon will render a very poor performance if ever used in combat so they avoid using this kind weapon with this in a real combat.

Figure 3
This figure is called kagat- ulang which is associated by the Ilongos with the first pair of ambulatory legs of a lobster which form the claws. They believed that this measurement maybe used in combat but it should be taken out of the scabbard before the actual confrontation. It is not good in a situation where the fighting is unexpected or without preparation.

Figure 4
Bingit-largo. This single full length cut piece of measuring material at the tip of the figure means the weapon is good for long range fighting. It means one should avoid using this kind of weapon in a close quarter combat.

Figure 5
Bingit-corto. This is the best kind of bladed weapon for combat. It will give a person quick reaction especially in drawing the sword from the scabbard. It is believed this is a killer bladed weapon.

This presentation is just a traditional belief existed before among the Eskrimadores especially in the Islands of Panay . As a matter of fact there are other traditional methods to determine the length of a good sword. This is just a traditional belief, and I personally believe it affects only to the believer.