Finally...Central Luzon origin

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Robert

Ian, here is another from Apalit made by "Castro and Son" that I have in my personal collection. The thread is located here http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ht=castro+sons I have a couple more in my collection and as you say they are heavy, well made and would make formidable weapons if needed. I believe that this one would definitely fall into the personal weapon class as I do not believe that it was ever meant to see fieldwork, unless it was on a battlefield. The others were brought back by returning servicemen after the war.

Best,
Robert

Robert:

Thank you for the response and interesting knife that you showed in the earlier thread. There seems to be a commonality with the ferrule and adjacent wooden polygonal rings, and the scabbards each have a wooden tongue that would aid in hanging them from a belt or tucked into the waist of pants.

Yours definitely appears to be a weapon from around the time of the Revolution. I'm not seeing any of the typical Katapunero symbols on the scabbard but the clenched fist on the hilt would fit with that period and later. Would not be surprised if this is an 1890s piece. Very nice knife.

Ian.

[Robert]

Ian, Thank you for your kind words on the one example that I posted. I have also noticed a couple of other things of interest on the pieces. The older examples that I have seen all have had a toe on the end of the scabbard and are always held together by the use of wires going through small holes bored through the scabbards while the scabbards on later examples (like the second one you have posted) are missing the toe and all have been held together by the use of small nails. All of the ones that I have been able to personally handle have always been very well made and meant for business. Is the first one you posted yours?

Best,
Robert

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Robert

Ian, Thank you for your kind words on the one example that I posted. I have also noticed a couple of other things of interest on the pieces. The older examples that I have seen all have had a toe on the end of the scabbard and are always held together by the use of wires going through small holes bored through the scabbards while the scabbards on later examples (like the second one you have posted) are missing the toe and all have been held together by the use of small nails. All of the ones that I have been able to personally handle have always been very well made and meant for business. Is the first one you posted yours?

Best,
Robert

Thanks again. Very useful information Robert. Both of these are mine. I bought them in the last couple of days and should have them shortly for closer inspection.

Ian.

[Robert]

Wonderful, I'm glad that you won them both. One other thing I thought I would mention. Every one of these Apalit swords/bolos that I have seen have had this same drop point style of blade. Have you ever seen one that doesn't?

Best,
Robert

[Sajen]

I also own one of this bolos but with some difference, the brass ferrule is round and the tang don't go through the hilt. I think it is a WWII area piece, the blade has seen use. Here some pictures.

Regards,
Detlef

[Robert]

Hello Detlef, As I cannot tell in the photos, how are the two halves of the scabbard held together? Your example is the first I have seen in this style with a short tang, all others I have seen had the longer through hilt tangs. The hilt on yours also looks to have a bulge in the center of the grip as well as a smooth round ferrule which are both something that I have not seen before. How thick is the blade next to the hilt, it looks to be a little thinner than the others I have encountered which were from 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick at that point. The scabbard does have the toe that I mentioned that I have only seen on earlier pre war pieces. Very interesting. Thank you for sharing your example as it gives me more to think over about these pieces.

Best,
Robert

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Robert

Hello Detlef, As I cannot tell in the photos, how are the two halves of the scabbard held together? Your example is the first I have seen in this style with a short tang, all others I have seen had the longer through hilt tangs. The hilt on yours also looks to have a bulge in the center of the grip as well as a smooth round ferrule which are both something that I have not seen before. How thick is the blade next to the hilt, it looks to be a little thinner than the others I have encountered which were from 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick at that point. The scabbard does have the toe that I mentioned that I have only seen on earlier pre war pieces. Very interesting. Thank you for sharing your example as it gives me more to think over about these pieces.

Best,
Robert

Hello Robert,

good observations! The bulge in the center of the hilt is existing, the ferrule is round and the blade is 4 mm thick near the handle. The scabbard halves seems to be glued, there are no nails visible.

Regards,
Detlef

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Sajen

I also own one of this bolos but with some difference, the brass ferrule is round and the tang don't go through the hilt. I think it is a WWII area piece, the blade has seen use. Here some pictures.

Regards,
Detlef

Thanks Detlef for showing your interesting older example. In answer to your question about the partial versus full tang, yes I have seen a couple of other examples with this arrangement. That's why I said "almost always full tang" in the original post here. Also, I have seen round ferrules before, although they tend to be less common than the polygonal ones. With regards to the number of sides on the ferrule, it is usually seven (matching the handle), but I have also seen six and (I think) eight.

I notice that your hilt has seven sides, so perhaps the panday ran out of seven-sided ferrules the day he was making this one and put on a round one instead.

Ian

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Ian

I notice that your hilt has seven sides, so perhaps the panday ran out of seven-sided ferrules the day he was making this one and put on a round one instead.

Maybe, who knows!
In this thread: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ighlight=luzon
post #14 is shown another nice example.

Regards,
Detlef

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Robert

Wonderful, I'm glad that you won them both. One other thing I thought I would mention. Every one of these Apalit swords/bolos that I have seen have had this same drop point style of blade. Have you ever seen one that doesn't?

Best,
Robert

Robert, I have seen other blade forms but these looked very much like tools. I've seen a straight machete type of blade, as well as straight-sided choppers. In the link to the blog I gave below is a picture of recently made Apalit choppers that are quite different in form. Here is that picture. Notice how large the hilts are in the hands of this boy and girl. I have large hands, and these hilts more than accommodate my hand.

[Ian]

As I look at each of the three scabbards so far displayed here, I see that the same motif appears on all three. It is a semicircle with radiating lines that cut the semicircle into wedges. The two older ones also have circles segmented similarly by radial lines. My scabbard dated 1959 may well be the youngest of the three, and instead of a a triangular toe it has an upturned rounded tip.

Ian.