These pieces make want to get back into ethnographic blades. I too, like the marriage of the barung hilt, to the tanto blade. I once saw a katana, that was re-hilted in Africa, with a decorated scabbard. Would love to know the story behind that one.

A recently acquired Samal (Or is it Yakan?) piece. Massive 46cm blade (18 in), silver punto, silver hilt wrapping.

Anyone have any other examples of this type of hilt weaving on a Barung?

I was watching this one. Congratulations. Nice piece and although I have seen this type of weaving before on a barong, usually it is in brass and not silver. Extensive silver.

Wow, Amazing Thread, Amazing Pieces, Guys! Thanks for sharing!

I found this ~3 weeks ago. Just had the opportunity to photograph it.
Blade length is 19.5"
The Barung with the lighter background belongs to a friend. Apologies for the poor image. I took a photo of a paper photograph.

Unlike Battara, all I've seen with wire wraps in this fashion were silver.

Just bought this WWII area barong because something appealed my eyes by this one.

My Samal barung...

Here are my barong beyond the 2 in http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15389.

#3 is 565g, about 6mm thick near the hilt. Cuts very nicely. The grip is wrapped in cord (hemp?), going over part of the metal fittings. What sins might it hide?

#4 is 610g, about 6.5mm thick near the hilt. Blade has broad fuller (or should I call it hollow-forged?). Seems like a very heavy hilt. Just cleaned this yesterday; it was a little dirty when I got it (very recently).

The scabbard is in poor shape, with lots of splits in the wood along the grain, and the two halves mostly separate. But nothing missing, so just the kind of thing that would be "traditionally" fixed by wrapping with black electrical tape. A less Western solution would be rattan or hemp cord. Would need to lacquer (or some suitable glue). Is there any traditional of fabric wrapping?

Is #5 a barong? The blade has an asymmetric profile - the left side is flat, and the right side is convex. The blade is thin; just over 5mm at the hilt, but within a few centimetres, it thins to about 4.5mm.

Congrats, Timo - interesting acquisitions!

I'd posit that all warrant etching and close-ups posted in seperate, dedicated threads.

Is that cord or fabric? Cord wrappings over the silver sleeve a very common to enhance the grip. Looks like a good, antique warrior piece to me and close-ups may tell wether any work needs to be done.

That's a shandigan blade (the wear may indicate quite a bit of age). Neat scabbard and hilt - I like it!

Rattan would be the way to go if really needed. Any wooden pins remaining or traces of these? A careful restoration should help to preserve this scabbard.

No. Visayan and looks pretty recent (post WW2).

Regards,
Kai

Cord. The cord has something gluey slathered over it; also the blade end of the hilt has the same "glue". Looks (and feels) like dirty grey-brown PVA glue.

It needs something, at least at the throat, since there are 6 long splits in the wood along the grain, about 1/3 - 1/2 of the length of the scabbard. The back (i.e., the part where the back of the blade sits) is the worst. Tight strapping, especially with glue/lacquer will hold it.

I can't see any pins, wooden or metal, just two pieces of wood. Hidden pins? Considering that the two halves are separate along most of the blade edge, and a past modern regluing attempt has come loose, it would be good glue holding the ends of the scabbard together with no pins at all. But I can't see any.

It clearly isn't a Moro barong. But as a taxonomic question: when is a barong-like thing a barong, and when is it not a barong?

the Barung is indigenous to the people of the Sulu Sultanate. it has a distinct blade and handle. there are blades in the visayan region that has a somewhat similar profile, but they are referred as something else, depending on what island they were originally from.

thanks ron for the comment. just to add to that, the leaf-shaped blade profile can also be found in northern philippines, for instance in northern luzon (see att. pic). in there, it's called a buneng, which is their generic term for a utility blade.

This one will come to my collection soon: http://www.ebay.com/itm/251239550702...84.m1439.l2649

Will post pictures when I have received it and have worked on it.

Have someone seen a barong before with a copper ferrule?

Regards,

Detlef

Interesting piece. Nice to have it complete instead of broken off pieces.

Copper ferrule........well anything is possible since I have seen brass, white metal, silver, and even the rare gold versions. Copper - not until now.

The unbroken handle and the very good price was the reason why I bought it. I am curious to hold it in my hands to see which metal the the ferrule is worked from.

Regards,

Detlef

Hello Detlef,
nice barung, you got there! and a good price as well.
not the initial choice of ferrule material, but yes, copper has been used from time to time.
would love to see that barung all cleaned up!

here's another example:

Thank you Ron for both, your kind words and for posting this example with copper ferrule. Like said before, will post pictures again when I have received it and worked on it. Will clean & etch the blade and will give the wooden handle oil as well I will polish the copper.

Regards,

Detlef

Have received the barong. There is unfortunately a small piece at the crest of the handle missing. The resin was broken out and replaced by exposy. The ferrule isn't from copper but from brass, maybe with a high copper content. The blade I have cleaned but there have been old grinding traces which I don't was able to polish away. The etching with vinegar wasn't succsessful but it is still a nice piece.

nice aunt-eeks!

all i have are these recent ones.

Here are my barong at this time. (1-4 have been shown before; #3 & #4 are just upthread.) Individual photos, measurements, and comments for each are in http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=19144

#14 and #15 are modern, #10 & #13 are decorated blades, #6 is touristy.

Here are my lonely Barong. The one in the image provided, I have always wondered if it is Borneo.

My other from the Sulu region with a triple core twist blade is seen here;
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...anta+christmas

One of the best ones I had that I enjoyed very much is now with Charles;
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...=silver+barong

Gavin

Hi Gav,

These types are for sure my favorite.
Yours is in perfect condition.
I think Borneo is a very good option, and I would say it is.

Kind regards,
Maurice

I liked this thread a lot when I was starting my steel-collecting journey, so I'm necro-ing it. Here's my favorite so far.

I've added one since my last post on this thread:

Nice shadrigan blade!

Burst of activity in January 2012, them self-extinguishing dribbling up to 2014. Than silence until today. And... B-a-aahm! Another wave ( like covid).
I love how this Forum works: nothing is forgotten, new information is posted in bursts, and sometimes it changes the way we look at things.
It is like one of the main laws of Talmud: there is no before or after, our understanding may be interruptible, but always deeper and deeper.
Good job, colleagues!

I suspect that the so-called " low-end" examples were the real battle one. The ones with handles of exotic materiels and with artistically carved fragile handles likely never saw a real fight.

The Bud Dajo one is, IMHO, priceless. It carries with it an awesome story.
If I were collecting Philippine weapons I would have chosen it over the rich and intricate ones.

Forget to add this one Mid-20th c. Zamboangan with simple Maranao hilt. Guess they couldn't be bothered to get the pommel protrusions carved.25in. LOA in scabbard, 15.75 in. (40cm.) blade, 2.75in. wide, 4mm thick at the spine, 675 grams.

That depends sir. There are lavishly dressed samples that have "wise" blades. The kris in my avatar has an ivory pommel and suassa hilt, but the blade has chips and is slightly bent, obviously used in battle. Conversely, there are also non-lavish samples that were never used, and are perfectly preserved.

Cord Weave Hilt
 

I only have a couple of these - a simple hilt with a nice twist-core blade which I picked up from Gavin years ago (currently in storage and no photos to hand), and this one picked up very recently. I've only had a chance to give it a quick wipe down so far.

It's had a bit of a hard life, but I thought it was worth posting as it has a poor man's version of the wire wrap on Pepperskull's barong - exactly the same I think except it's in cord which has frayed quite a bit.

A small area of corrosion on an otherwise nice hollow-ground blade, and an old collector's number on the hilt.


Measurements

Length 56cm
Hilt 15.5cm
Ferrule 17 x 3 x 2.4cm
Pommel 16.5 x 3.8cm
Finials 1 x 0.8cm
Blade length 40.5cm
Blade width 3 > 6.5cm
Spine 0.8 > 0.1cm