barung, kris, gunong: my first post
 

good day, i have been reading some threads here for a few weeks now, and am really fascinated about the opinions and information you guys share here.

i have a few pieces in my small collection that i would like to have your opinions on as to estimated age and origin.

thank you in advance

Mabuhay and welcome to our little forum!

Your barong and gunning (the dagger) are of more recent manufacture. The barong from the Sulu region and the gunong looks to be perhaps from the Maranao (Mindanao for sure).

The kris looks also recent, although perhaps the blade might be WWII at the earliest. As far as the hilt is concerned it is later than the blade, but the blade might be Maguindanao, though I am a little inclined toward Sulu (close ups would be more helpful).

Nice work one the barong and gunong.

Hello and Welcome to the Forum.

Three nice examples of 20th C. Moro work. I agree with Battara about the likely age of these pieces, and that the kris might be Sulu in origin.

Look forward to seeing any more pieces you may have.

Ian.

here are some more closeup pics of the barong

and here are some more pics of the kris

thank you for your replies. i am now trying to find out how to etch the blades of the kris and barong as i have seen so many beautiful photos of your etched blades.

any tips would be appreciated. i am planning to use white cane vinegar.

Hello Jose and Ian,

agree with you both to have here three 20th century pieces but it's maybe a little disappointing for our new member to read "recent" for the age of his pieces. Would agree with recent for the gunong but it's a very nice worked piece. The barong is maybe from WWII area, so I would call it "vintage" :D .
But very nice carved pommel! :) The kris seems to my eyes the oldest piece of this small collection and when my eyes don't play a bad game with me I think to see that the gangya is separat, so maybe is this piece from the 1920/30ties? :shrug:

Regards,
Detlef

here are the kris and barong as i have received them the first time. the former owner coated it with "rust converter" thats why it was all black.

i had sanded it down a bit to remove most of the black, and put on metal polish.

the barongs thread wrapping was disintegrating, i re-wrapped it with cotton thread.

the gunong i got in that condition, i didnt do anything to it but wipe it with cloth damp with a little oil.

PBH:

You will find a lot of discussion of etching blades on these pages. If you use the Search function there should be plenty of guidance.

In the original culture it would be common to use pineapple juice or lime juice to etch the blades, and both of these natural acids work well. White vinegar is also good. Many people also use ferric chloride which can be found at hardware stores in the U.S. but may be harder to find in the Philippines.

The nice thing about etching blades lightly is that you can polish them back to bright metal and start again if you don't like the finish. Just don't get the etchant on the more delicate materials on the hilts.

Good luck and please show us the results of your etching.

Ian.

tried some etching
 

i tried acid etching with vinegar on the gunong and the kris,

the gunong when seen upclose shows very nice layers but doesnt show much in the pictures.

the kris seemed to be made from monosteel but with hardened edges. the temper line is not even (sloppy work on my part maybe? or the smith?)

anyway, i will polish the kris again to bring it back to silver metal color because i liked it better that way. i thought i was gonna find out that this kris has layers.

That's a nice gunong, PBH! :)

Really nice gunong and kris.Would love to see the kris after polishing.