[Ian]

Thought I would post these pictures of a repair I did recently on a Visayan hilt because the original construction of the hilt was a little different from what I have seen previously.

The hilt was very loose and pulled off with little effort. What came from the cavity in the hilt was a mixture of rusty dust and small fragments of fibrous material. Adhering to the rectangular tang were further remnants of fabric of some type which bound two thin pieces of metal to either side of the tang. These thin strips seem to have been metal "shims" and the whole attachment of the hilt to the tang appears to have been largely a press fit over a padded and expanded tang. There may have been an adhesive in the mix originally, but when I removed the hilt the wooden cavity was devoid of any residual pitch or other adhesive.

The first two pictures show the hilt disassembled. It is a large deity hilt that is associated with the island of Panay in the central Philippines (Visayas). There is a large octagonal ferrule and a small cross guard.

Closer inspection (second picture) shows notches in the top of the guard into which the metal "shims" may have fitted originally.