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Originally Posted by ashkenaz
More amateur questions,
I've read a claim that Moros, before the times of the Hispanic era and during it to now, had pretty much made all their blades out of steel and never iron.
And then there is another claim that Moros forged their own steel, which contradicts a source I read that everyone in what would become the Philippines back then never mined their own metals and always imported them from other cultures.
These claims confuse me, sorry. Are these exaggerations or whatnot?
Thanks,
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there is still people alive to this day that can describe steel and iron making that ive met in the phillipines.
in the areas where the people were under the control of the spanish im sure the much higher quality european steel was dominant.. but this steel costed money.. and even in areas where imported steel had been present for a long time locally made steel still existed for a long time. hence the lamination on blades .
in the mountainous tribal areas of the phillipines iron making probably survived till around ww2 in places and even today 1kg of spring costs about 5 times more there than in the lowland areas.
normally they would use small forges and from what im told some of the tribal groups knew neither tongs nor metal anvils so im told anvils were stone but they knew how to to make steel..