At long last, Garabs!

Ian · 22nd September 2017, 05:45 AM

Hi Leif:

Two nice garab/talibong. The general appearance of these would suggest early- to mid-20th C. to me. The rattan braidings on the hilts and larger scabbard look like recent replacements. The strips on the scabbards, in particular, are often thin and get brittle and break over time--the scabbards are often missing a band or two. These strips look fairly new.

I think the broad thrust of your attempt to date the sequence of changes is probably fairly accurate overall. It's important to remember that changes in weapons in the Philippines occur sporadically, and that some areas in Leyte and Samar were probably still producing traditional garab up until WWII and after.

I have a Warai friend from Leyte who told me that people in his village were still producing knives "in the old way" when he was a kid in the 1970s. Unfortunately, my friend is not very familiar with knives and did not know if his village was still making traditional garab at that time. The point though is that some traditional craftsmen were probably still producing these knives into the mid-20th C, or perhaps later, while others had already moved on to somewhat different styles.

The strong presence of U.S. forces in the eastern Visayas following Macarthur's landing there through to the conclusion of WWII led to a market for many of the knives that you class as Category 3. Perhaps we see a lot of them in the U.S. because they were brought home as souvenirs. Iron was in plentiful supply at the time (courtesy of military scrap) and many of these WWII and later knives are monosteel (sometimes with a hardened edge).

While there has clearly been an evolution (degrading?) of style in these eastern Visayan knives following WWII, a changing trend during the first half of the 20th C. seems more subtle and difficult to define.

Ian.

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22nd September 2017, 05:45 AM	#1
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,411	Hi Leif: Two nice garab/talibong. The general appearance of these would suggest early- to mid-20th C. to me. The rattan braidings on the hilts and larger scabbard look like recent replacements. The strips on the scabbards, in particular, are often thin and get brittle and break over time--the scabbards are often missing a band or two. These strips look fairly new. I think the broad thrust of your attempt to date the sequence of changes is probably fairly accurate overall. It's important to remember that changes in weapons in the Philippines occur sporadically, and that some areas in Leyte and Samar were probably still producing traditional garab up until WWII and after. I have a Warai friend from Leyte who told me that people in his village were still producing knives "in the old way" when he was a kid in the 1970s. Unfortunately, my friend is not very familiar with knives and did not know if his village was still making traditional garab at that time. The point though is that some traditional craftsmen were probably still producing these knives into the mid-20th C, or perhaps later, while others had already moved on to somewhat different styles. The strong presence of U.S. forces in the eastern Visayas following Macarthur's landing there through to the conclusion of WWII led to a market for many of the knives that you class as Category 3. Perhaps we see a lot of them in the U.S. because they were brought home as souvenirs. Iron was in plentiful supply at the time (courtesy of military scrap) and many of these WWII and later knives are monosteel (sometimes with a hardened edge). While there has clearly been an evolution (degrading?) of style in these eastern Visayan knives following WWII, a changing trend during the first half of the 20th C. seems more subtle and difficult to define. Ian.