philipine,bolo sword

[JoeCanada42]

acquired this at a local auction a few months ago
the edge of the blade seems appropriate, flat one side, edge one side, is the handle original? can it be antique? doesn't fit in the scabbard at all.
anything of interest about it? or is it just run of the mill. thanks for lookins

[JoeCanada42]

blade is 19 inches
blade and handle is 23 and 1/4 inches

[RobT]

Hi JoeCanada42,

I have two of these blades. Both have a chisel grind and both have wooden sheaths and hilts.
The chisel grind on the longer of the two blades (15-9/16", 39.52875cm) is so slight that it can't be seen but rather must be felt. The blade is also rather thin at just over 3/16" (4.7625mm) at the hilt and has a chisel grind false edge.
The shorter of the blades (9-1/8", 23.1775) appears to be far more robust with a noticeable chisel grind but is only about 1/32" (.79375mm) thicker at the hilt than the longer blade.
I have a feeling that your blade probably also had a wooden sheath at one time. Based on my examples, I see no reason to believe that the hilt on yours isn't original to the knife (lucky you to have one with a brass ferrule and butt cap). I think my blades and yours are 20th century. Whether early, mid or late I couldn't say. As to being run of the mill, well, I think that they are rather unique in that they come in taribong like sheaths but the blades are completely unlike the typical taribong.

Sincerely,
RobT

[JoeCanada42]

cool stuff, nice that you got the scabbards,
I can see the similarities for Shure, but I do notice my blade shape is different then your examples, my handle also lacks carving, the leather sheath that came with it is evidently very old and may even be be the original, or made long ago when, if it is a reused antique blade put onto into a more modern handle. my blade does have evident age holes in holes,, the spine at the handle is 6 mm, are yours also with an edge shape "chisel grind"? ,
or were you referring to the blade being sharpened by chisel ?
thanks

[RobT]

Hi JoeCanada42,

When I said chisel grind, I meant that the edge of the blade is flat on one side and beveled on the other like the edge of a chisel. I know that the shapes of all three blades differ one from the other but that odd rebate next to the hilt is their one commonality.

Sincerely,
RobT

[JoeCanada42]

okay cool, thanks for clarifying. I will keep looking at examples, thanks for pointing out the rebate at the hilt.