Pattern-welded (twist core) Budiak

[Lee]

The discussion on Maurice's gorgeous budiak (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11670) with a Sulu provenance got me to thinking about an old pattern-welded spearhead I have had for many years.

The pole was gone before I encountered the spear, which also included a very thin and fragile silver cylinder. Someone had tried to repair this with epoxy, but that had already failed. Clearly this would have been most stunning when intact and mounted.

The cross-section of the neck of this spear is very much a square on end and the neck of Maurice's spear reminded me of this one.

Does the form of this spearhead and the decoration on the ferrule reveal where this spear is from and allow any of you to enlighten me?

[Rick]

Could one imagine a base under that silver like the left hand spear shown ?

No one ever really nailed this one down to a particular tribe IIRC .
The ferrule style is quite different from yours .

[Maurice]

The discussion on Maurice's gorgeous budiak (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11670) with a Sulu provenance got me to thinking about an old pattern-welded spearhead I have had for many years.

The pole was gone before I encountered the spear, which also included a very thin and fragile silver cylinder. Someone had tried to repair this with epoxy, but that had already failed. Clearly this would have been most stunning when intact and mounted.

The cross-section of the neck of this spear is very much a square on end and the neck of Maurice's spear reminded me of this one.

Does the form of this spearhead and the decoration on the ferrule reveal where this spear is from and allow any of you to enlighten me?
Very handsome budiak Lee!
It must have been a status piece, looking at the silverwork, and it must have had an awesome look when compleet with pole...

I guess to track the origine, we must hope to find similar pieces like this in a museum with provenance.

Maurice

[Maurice]

Could one imagine a base under that silver like the left hand spear shown ?

No one ever really nailed this one down to a particular tribe IIRC .
The ferrule style is quite different from yours .
Hello Rick,

I only can post this image of these spears in a spanish museum.
Unfortunately I have no description of the spears, but maybe a spanish collector can tell more about the tags or what they are saying in the museum....
I only have this image!
Depicted are several spears, some with very plain silver ferrule (but with other bands/rings like yours).
Especially the second one of the left....the base looks very similar to me in comparison with yours, although your blade is a bit slimmer.

Maurice

[Battara]

Interesting form of budiak. Not seen this length of blade before. Love the twistcore.

[Rick]

Thank you Maurice . :)

I don't see any that are similar; I think the one you mention goes to round at the base .
I see no rings on the ferrules that match . :shrug: :confused:

Anyway, if the base of Lee's example is angular this might be something to work with ...... or just coincidence . :) :shrug:

I see a resemblance :
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11670

[Maurice]

Thank you Maurice . :)

I don't see any that are similar; I think the one you mention goes to round at the base .
I see no rings on the ferrules that match . :shrug: :confused:

Anyway, if the base of Lee's example is angular this might be something to work with ...... or just coincidence . :) :shrug:

I see a resemblance :
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11670Rick, sorry I don't see your statement.
If I give it a close look, the one I mentioned indeed is round and yours is square.
But just above the round base and up to the tip I am surely see some similarities.
Indeed the rings on your ferrule look very beautifull and different, as I mentioned before, and I never have seen them like this on budiaks nor Borneo spears. I have seen several Borneo spears with provenance which had silver ferrules and silver rings, but all different as yours, which look very finely made.

It looks like Lee's budiak's base is also square...

[Rick]

Hi Maurice . :)
Could this be a more archaic form of Moro spear ?
Or a distinctly Sulu style ? :confused:

I rarely see these compared to the examples I show .

Rick

[Lee]

Thank you all...

Rick, the base is much like the one you picture on the left, but a little less robust. As to both of your examples - drool...nice...drool...

Maurice, I have scanned in one of the plates from Krieger (1926) below and have labeled the spears with the tribal associations given in the text. Numbers 8 & 9 appear to have a square neck, but are Bagabo & Moro, respectively. Similarly, the etched panels on the blade faces are present and absent with both associations. The text describes the ferrules of these examples as being of brass or iron.

I suppose that these Malaysian spearheads would have spread throughout the region by trade and capture and so can no more be precisely placed geographically than a European winged spearhead of the 9th - 10th century (socketed instead of tanged, but of about the same size and with sometimes with similar pattern-welding!) Mountings would clearly help, when present, in the rare cases where examples of known provenance are available for comparison. Hopefully, some day the chronology and regional variations will be worked out for these most impressive artifacts.

[Maurice]

Hi Maurice . :)
Could this be a more archaic form of Moro spear ?
Or a distinctly Sulu style ? :confused:

I rarely see these compared to the examples I show .

RickHello Rick,

It would be just a guess when I should say it is archaic.
But Lee's example looks very old and different....maybe somebody else can enlighten us?

I don't know much about okir design and region, but maybe there is somebody able to tell anything about the region when looking at the okir design on the silver shaft? (Battara maybe?)

Maurice

[asomotif]

Nice spear head.

The silver shaft can be fixed partly I think.
Than it would be a (even more) attactive piece :)

[Maurice]

Maurice, I have scanned in one of the plates from Krieger (1926) below and have labeled the spears with the tribal associations given in the text. Numbers 8 & 9 appear to have a square neck, but are Bagabo & Moro, respectively. Similarly, the etched panels on the blade faces are present and absent with both associations. The text describes the ferrules of these examples as being of brass or iron.
Lee, thank you for the scanned Krieger plate. I do have the Krieger images on my computer, but in a smaller format, so it is more clear to see now.
Bagobo & moro, panels present and absent, I think a lot of work and research can and need to be done here to find out more about these great pieces...

I suppose that these Malaysian spearheads would have spread throughout the region by trade and capture and so can no more be precisely placed geographically than a European winged spearhead of the 9th - 10th century (socketed instead of tanged, but of about the same size and with sometimes with similar pattern-welding!) Mountings would clearly help, when present, in the rare cases where examples of known provenance are available for comparison. Hopefully, some day the chronology and regional variations will be worked out for these most impressive artifacts.
Yes I agree with the trade and capture part. Therefore it is harder to track down the origine for us.
I hope there is somebody able to study the regional variations.
I once started a thread about provenanced pieces. But I was the only one it seemed who was interested in, cause there were no reactions or postings from others. This could enlighten a lot and would be a great threat as reference material and might be an important "Sticky".........but forumites need to post their pieces first...:-)

Maurice

[Battara]

Well, I was wondering if this was an earlier form of budiak myself.

As far as the okir is concerned, I was thinking that the okir is not of the same quality of that I see in Mindanao for example. Also the type of okir is more reminiscent of Sulu rather than that of Mindanao. I would cautiously place it therefore as Sulu work.

[Rick]

Is this then possibly an early Sulu form ? :confused: :confused:

Oh for some provenance . :( :o

Even the spears I acquired from the Bandholtz collection were labeled as Budiak !! :rolleyes:

Confusion seems to be everywhere on this subject . :eek:

We need a book on spears of the area .

[Lee]

I am going pretty far out on a flimsy limb, but, I do agree with the suspicions stated above and I believe this is well the oldest of my budiaks if I am to judge by blade surfaces. All of them have been taken care of over the years, but there are always little lapses that accumulate and leave their marks. (I have one more budiak to share.)

Similarly, while out on that limb, I will speculate that something like this budiak could have 'evolved' through the features we see in Maurice's Sulu budiak on the way to Rick's example on the right. But then I am ignoring Rick's example on the left.

Rick - It turned out to be simple and harmless to expose the base of the neck of my spearhead and it remains a simple square. Asomotif - I believe that, despite the tears and dents, very little silver is missing from the ferrule and that you are correct that it remains very restorable and deserves restoration. (If I can find copper pipe of the correct diameter, that might provide a definitive underlying support.) Battara - I have tried to give a better view of the okir below:

[Battara]

I hesitate to call it a true budiak since it does not have the usual chiseling for a budiak.

However the twistcore and the way it is done as well as the okir still indicates to me so far that this is an early Sulu spear.

[Lee]

Battara - So, if I understand correctly, Rick's spear on the left up in reply #2 would not be called a budiak as it lacks the chiseled panel, and only the 4th from the left in the panoply shown in Maurice's post (#4) would qualify for the name budiak.

In a playful vein, I shall, for the moment term this old Sulu spear as a protobudiak.

I have built a composite picture below - not to precise scale and digitally bleached to bring up more detail in the bases - in order of similarity of features. Our protobudiak is fullered and has no elaboration at its base; the blade tapers into a square cross section. (Maurice's splendid provenanced Sulu spear (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpost.php?p=107555&postcount=9) would come next in this sequence.) The second spear from the left below (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12563) has a shallow chiseled panel which carries into a square neck as a line before an abrupt, but slight expansion into a round base. The two on the right (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12397) are proper budiaks with a well developed chiseled panel and the thicker edges terminating in a classic floral? curve. These have rings around a round neck and re-expand substantially to meet the ferrule (or be partially covered by it in the right example).

Krieger's plate 6 (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpost.php?p=107927&postcount=9) does strongly suggest both forms (chiseled with complex base and non-chiseled with square base) remained in use by both the Moro and Bagobo until the early 20th century. So chronology versus geography (of manufacture) or more likely a bit of both.

[Lee]

This protobudiak was my very first 'Malaysian' spear. I bought it in a small (now sadly perished) private arms and armour museum in Kutztown, Pennsylvania in the late 1990s. I collected it as a superb example of pattern-welding for a small group of comparative ethnographic examples I was building. It was so out of place in the museum's small coop shop and it cost me less than a hundred dollars. I still delight in my memory of finding it. I have over the years mislaid that delicate silver ferrule cylinder on more than one occasion, but shall be careful not to again lose it, and I indeed look forward to seeing it put back together again.

So, ironically, the protobudiak gets to be the reference point as I pull something from the opposite side of the globe and a millennium further back out of the armoury to compare with it, namely a mid to late Viking Age (Carolingian) winged spearhead. The big, obvious differences are that the winged spearhead is socketed (with two small protrusions or 'wings' arising from the socket) and the tanged protobudiak has more pronounced fullering. In functional impact, however, these two spearheads are nearly identical in length (protobudiak 355 mm; winged spearhead 345 mm - measuring from where each blade begins to expand out from neck to the tip) and in mass (protobudiak as pictured including partial mounts and epoxy 469 grams; winged spearhead 409 grams with some losses from the socket on the opposite side).

[Rick]

If we are going to follow the thought train that this is an early Budiak; I think I might be able to show a transitional design with elements of both old and new .

Left hand spear in post 2, fifth picture down . :shrug:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12569

[Lee]

Thanks Rick, I think that is about all one could hope for in terms of a missing link ... now is it time or geography or both.

I had missed that detail in the wealth of that museum photo tour, but worse I had totally missed Bill M's fabulous examples (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5973) resurrected in Freebooter's thread (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12588) - just look at the combination of features in the first pictured spear as well as the intact silver ferrule. Gorgeous!

Anyway, my protobudiak is about to head out the door for restoration and preparatory to this I have dissolved away the failed epoxy repair and revealed the end of the tang and fractured remain of the pole.

And just a trace of fall foliage reflected in the silver.

[Battara]

Glad you were able to get that thing off. Now it can be worked on easier. :)

[Emanuel]

Hi everyone,

Here is a Moro or Bagobo spear with similar lozenge flaring at the base. The blade is pattern-welded but not twist-core. I find the braided wire work quite interesting.

Emanuel

[Rick]

The head seems almost identical to the left one shown in post #2 . :)

[Emanuel]

Yup, that's why I posted it :) . If I followed the discussion correctly, is there budding consensus that this is an early form of budiak?

[Rick]

I've got my doubts about that . :shrug:

I expect we need a workable, generally acceptable descriptive definition of 'Budiak'; is it just a generic term for 'Southern Philippine Muslim Spear' ? :confused:

Anyone ?

[Battara]

Well it depends. I have heard that on the one hand it is a Sulu term for spear, but that type of spear as the chiseling we have been speaking of and the flair. However, other Moros have similar types of spearhead as well as other spears. I go with the last version until proven differently.

On this last spear presented, no, I would classify it more as Lumad, perhaps Bagobo.

[Rick]

What's bugging me here is this question :

Did ALL the S. Philippines tribes regardless of religious orientation possess the same level of metalworking skills ?? :confused:

If not; could these spear heads have possibly been sourced from other groups or areas ? :shrug:

The uniform quality of workmanship begs this question IMO .

Rick

[Battara]

I know that the Lumad tribes traded with Moros and acquired twist core, for example, and other steels. For this reason, I would say that when it came to steel, probably the Moros were closest in access and trade with their Indonesian cousins and thus had better access to steel techniques (again twist core for example).

Also the forms change between different tribes, but the workmanship is still good.

[migueldiaz]

Various Moro spears ...

[migueldiaz]

Some more pics ...

[migueldiaz]

Another pic ...

[migueldiaz]

Here's a GI who apparently had seen action all over the Philippines ...

[Battara]

Yes what drives me nuts about these pictures is the false coloring! :rolleyes: I will even photocopy these in black and white to try to bring them back to reality for study.

Now that my rant is over, thank you for the close ups! :)

[migueldiaz]

Yes what drives me nuts about these pictures is the false coloring! :rolleyes: I will even photocopy these in black and white to try to bring them back to reality for study.Whew! Thanks. So those Moros did not wear pink pants after all ;) :D

If you are using Windows, Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com/) is a free app that can easily convert to greyscale any color photo (among many other tricks up its sleeves).

[Battara]

Thanks may try that it (hope it works on a Mac! :) ).

[migueldiaz]

Thanks may try that it (hope it works on a Mac! :) ).I use a Mac, too. In that case it'll be even easier. Open the pic in iPhoto, and then click "Effects", as illustrated :)

[Battara]

Salamat Po Bro! :D

[Lee]

Photoshop attempt:

[Lee]

It turned out that I was only about halfway in separating the components when I made my last post. It turned out there was a deep vein of epoxy still binding tang to wood and the silver foil sleeve. An eight hour soak in methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) would penetrate and soften about a millimeter thickness of the epoxy with further softening not observed from a longer soak. The weakened epoxy could then be scraped away with a dissecting needle and the cycle repeated for days. The old tar-like material, still tacky in places, but mostly dried, originally securing the blade in place was much more vulnerable to the MEK and the tang finally released. Soaking of the wood and silver continued until I could no longer reach the remaining epoxy between the silver and the wood. At this point I gave it a bit of time to dry and applied heat with a kitchen stove-top burner. The MEK residue still lit a couple of times. Finally the remaining epoxy failed and I got the silver tube free from the remains of the shaft. The silver tube went off to Battara and I suspect he had been expecting something more substantial - this silver was really more a silver foil - thicker than kitchen aluminum foil but not nearly as thick as the wall of a typical food can. The torn areas were a bit too distorted for recovery, so we decided to sacrifice about an inch of this area as the design was in a helix and repeated.

In due course I hope to get this on a pole, leaving a hidden backing of copper seamless tube beneath the silver sleeve. It is nice to have gotten the wood out reasonably intact to see how the blade was mounted - the tarry substance was doing most of the work - unfortunately, the wood is unlikely to provide further clues (http://www.si.edu/mci/downloads/reports/scientific_limits_wood.pdf) of its origin.

[Rick]

I believe the third man from the right in the group picture posted above holds a spear with a similar head to Lee's example .

Good patient job with the MEK Lee .





I'll pray for your Liver ... ;) :D

[migueldiaz]

Hello, Lee. As an aside, I've always liked looking at the pics you take, as they show subtle details. Do you use artificial lighting, or are the pics taken on an overcast day? Hope you can give us a tip or two :) Thanks in advance.

[Gavin Nugent]

Great post Lee,

The step by step process you followed is quite interesting and the image is great, that new camera really is a good one!

Unlike the Moro Spear I presented that has a long brass/bronze collar to support the tang and head, I found it very informative to know how thin the silver collar was on this piece, nothing more than decoration and a cylinder shaft to contain the resin when initially made...

It just goes to show, a little time and thought, some good specialist help with the silver and a cleaning of the steel brings with it rewards very satisfying. This approach can be applied to any weapon in these pages that wants or needs to be enhanced, repaired or restored.

The new wood shaft should prove interesting too. Do you have resources to have a full length new one made? I know I would be happy to provide details of width and taper. From there you could aquire what you need to cast and complete the butt cap and then have a complete representative example of a wonderful weapon.

Great work.

Gav

[Battara]

Greetings Folks!

Lee asked me if I would comment on my end of the silver work. Here is a quick synopsis of what I did:

Well, when I got it, as Lee said, I thought it would be thicker stuff. However, it found it to be almost literally paper thin (no kidding!). This in itself presented a problem in trying to braze sections together - they would melt!

The area that was torn in half was not only too thin, but the metal was warped and stretched. No way to pull it all together without melting, and if I were by some miracle able to, the sleeve would bend over. Instead we decided to cut the parts and I soft soldered them together, covering over the area with the original intact ring.

One of the rings was also in this kind of shape. In this case, however, I had to make an entirely new one from scratch. The silver I used was a little thicker so that I could braze it properly as well as use a dapping block and mandrels to give the ring some semblance of curvature on the sides. I also incised lines on the outside of the ring to match the others.

Another thing I had to do was to reshape the top and bottom of the piece - they were dented and misshapen. This includes reshaping the bottom ring. Lots of hammering and re-hammering on different mandrels.

Finally I took off all the dirt and corrosion. I gave it several levels of buffing and polishing to get rid of all the 100 years of oxidation. This brought it back to life the way it was meant to be.

There you have it. More work than I was expecting, but well worth it. Very pleased to do it. :D

[Lee]

Rick - Indeed, thank you for pointing this out, I do see the similarity in the dominant central mid-rib on that spear in the photograph kindly posted by Migueldiaz, although I suspect the base may be round. (I also find it interesting to note the spears carried by the adjacent man to the right and also the second from the left have the assisting wire or cord as a backup for securing the blade to the shaft.) (I did the MEK work in the garage with the main door open and the container mouth covered with aluminum foil or a cap.)

These old pictures do show us that a number of different spear styles were in use concurrently. Looking at the spear first presented in this thread with the tang now exposed, there is considerable old brown rust patina on the tang. There was no evidence of active red rust or rusty flakes in the socket, the tarry material had done its job very well. Similarly, the other spear (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12397) I presented had a good coat of old rust on its bare tang while the blade had remained reasonably bright - so indeed it was not a new spearhead in 1907. I am beginning to wonder just how old some of these spearheads are. There obviously was significant trade throughout the region and older spearheads continuing in use beside new ones.

Migueldiaz - thank you for your kind comment on the photos. Most of the credit has to go to the new Canon camera I bought this summer to replace my old once respectable 2.4 megapixel unit that now lags behind the average phone in image quality. I have been shooting these outside on overcast days. As it snowed here a few nights ago, that is not going to work much longer this year, so I will have to try to set up some indoor lighting, please wish me luck.

Gavin - thank you also for your kind comments. While the silver ferrule sleeve is most attractive, even in dim light from across the room, it is pretty obvious that it was not providing much structural support. I do not know if it made a difference that the socket went deeper than the tang, but clearly the shaft had failed just beyond the tang. The wire on Emanuel's example makes a lot more sense. Perhaps this spear's mounting was adequate and was just abused, causing the failure. I am still looking around for potential pole material; for now the silver sleeve is underlain by a seamless copper tube and a temporary dowel provides a socket for the tang. Would oak have been used for these poles or was another wood favored?

[Battara]

Most likely narra wood wood would have been use, perhaps the outside of the narra tree. Problem is that it is no longer exported since it is becoming endangered. I would suggest walnut (looking like the outside of the narra tree) or dark stained padauk wood. Walnut would be easier and cheaper. Or you could just stain wood in walnut stain. My question would be did it have a bottom to it or not? If so, what kind?

[Gavin Nugent]

Would oak have been used for these poles or was another wood favored?

Lee, whilst I am not versed in the correct timbers used in native surrounds, something sits in the memory banks that this was discussed some time back and Lew from memory or a thread that Lew took part in mentioned the timbers strong enough for the purpose and I think maybe where to get them from too.

Edit; There ya go Battara got in first.

Gav

[migueldiaz]

Lee, thank you, too.

Attached are some more pics of various Philippine swords, some of which are Moro. Thanks.

[migueldiaz]

Here's some more pics, from Museo Naval in Spain ...

[migueldiaz]

More pics from Madrid's Museo Naval ...

[Battara]

Looking at this again I just noticed that there are a couple of spears that are in a similar condition to Lee's - torn brass or silver sleeves. :(

[Maurice]

Attached are some more pics of various Philippine swords, some of which are Moro. Thanks.
The spear in the middle seem to have a similarity with the captain Chimmo budiak.
They both seem to have the same decoration band of swags carved at the wooden shaft, right below the brass socket.

Maurice

[Lee]

The contrast within the twist core pattern-welding of the budiak that this thread started with appears to have been enhanced by a small percentage of Nickel. X-Ray fluorescence analysis (so, surface averaged over an area of about a square centimeter) disclosed about half of one percent Nickel without other elements commonly used to enhance patterns. Perhaps, in this context, a meteoric origin might be suspected, but there was not strong technical evidence for this. The silver sleeve is of good grade, about 90 percent, with trace elements consistent with early 20th century or before.

[kai]

Hello Lee,

Thanks for your insights - I hope more of these data will get reported with the XRF technology becoming more and more available!

Could you make the full lists available, please? Always difficult to anticipate what may prove important later on...

The low level of nickel is to be expected and certainly does not indicate any meteorite content: Sourcing this iron from Luwu (or some other terrestrial origin) seems much more likely unless you hit any characteristic trace metal fingerprint.

Regards,
Kai

[vilhelmsson]

So, ironically, the protobudiak gets to be the reference point as I pull something from the opposite side of the globe and a millennium further back out of the armoury to compare with it, namely a mid to late Viking Age (Carolingian) winged spearhead. The big, obvious differences are that the winged spearhead is socketed (with two small protrusions or 'wings' arising from the socket) and the tanged protobudiak has more pronounced fullering. In functional impact, however, these two spearheads are nearly identical in length (protobudiak 355 mm; winged spearhead 345 mm - measuring from where each blade begins to expand out from neck to the tip) and in mass (protobudiak as pictured including partial mounts and epoxy 469 grams; winged spearhead 409 grams with some losses from the socket on the opposite side).

I recently received delivery of a similar Type D Viking Age spearhead. I was eager to see if it had pattern welding. The core seems to be pattern-welded, though it could also be some clever texturing, but it is consistent on both sides of the spear (see the contrasty, filtered images).

But when I held it in my hand, I was similarly struck by its similarities to a budiak spearhead that I had purchased earlier in the year. Their silhouettes are almost identical (from neck to tip), and they share the aesthetic of core pattern-welding. I haven't weighed them, but they have a similar heft. It's fascinating that cultures a world and a millennium apart made such similar design decisions on their spears.

(I promise to try to get better at taking pictures of my weapons...)

[Lee]

Two very, very nice spearheads.

The early winged one appears to definitely have one band of pattern-welding. If the meandering side to side is the 'mirror image' on the back side, then this likely results from one twisted rod also forming a core, and I suspect this is the case as the plane of the surface appears to be intersecting at the periphery of a twisted rod. I include an image from Lorange (1889) showing some similar patterns.

The budiak appears to have two bands well controlled and corresponding to the mirrored chiseled out panels either side of the midrib. Here the intersection is much deeper, even to mid rod. The pattern-welded budiaks that I have been fortunate enough to acquire are either like the one at the head of this thread or have a single relatively flat central panel without the midrib.

The similarity in shape and size of these spearheads coming from such different origins does suggest these must be well proven and effective proportions.