A Beautifully Laminated Barong/Barung
 

This old Moro barong/barung is a recent purchase, and when it arrived it was a very nice surprise. I knew it was an old, perhaps 19th century, Tausug Moro or Samal Moro barong in a later, mid-20th-century, scabbard. What I did not anticipate was the outstanding quality of the beautifully laminated blade. The laminations are very precisely done and almost remind one of the rings in a tree trunk...I even wonder if that was the inspiration for this sort of pattern weld. This is one of the rarer forms of pattern welding on a Moro barong blade; I believe only a twistcore pattern weld on a barong is rarer.

Dimensions:
Overall: 26in./66cm.
Blade length: 17in./43cm.
Widest point of the blade: 2.75in./7cm.

Nothing but the best from you Charles. That is a freakin' beautiful barung! :)

Magnificent!

Thanks, guys...it was a very nice surprise!

That really is a nice piece of work!
And the weaving on the scabbard is beautiful too!

Wonderful example Charles, well done!

i'm in the wow camp too.

Me too!:D The scabbard, also when more recent, is nice also and great to have it in undamaged condition. :)

Impressive.

Handsome lamination, that scabbard is the icing on the cake.
One of my favorite Barung,s has a similar pattern.
Thanks for sharing

Again, thanks guys! It’s rapidly becoming one of my favorites!

Looks almost like Tibetan hairpin.

It really does, Ariel, but this pattern doesn’t have the abrupt and well-defined “U-turn” that we would see on a more traditional “hairpin” pattern weld.

So how is a pattern like this made?