Barung; weapon, tool or tourist piece?

[kai]

Hello Vinny,

do the local smiths in "Moroland" make Moro blades for their own people exclusively?

There may be some who wouldn't want to sell a blade to outsiders. However, with the economical realities in the southern Philippines, most artisans seem to be more than happy to get a broader customer base. Anyway, you'll be unlikely to get into contact with a panday but rather a local dealer.

Are they still of the same caliber as they once were? Better? Worse?

There are clear indications that traditional Moro bladesmithing has gone through a severe bottleneck during the 20th century and some may even argue that it has gone extinct (obviously, much of the knowledge got lost).

However, the current panday in Mindanao are getting better (e. g. a separate gangya has been the rule for decent new examples for quite some years) and it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish antique kris from some newly produced and artificially patinated ones. Aesthetically, the craftmanship still can't compare with good traditional examples from the early 20th century and I also can't vouch for their balance; I have yet to see a traditionally laminated new piece. However, I'm sure that these blades would do their job and wouldn't want to be of the receiving end of any of the newly produced pieces, too. At least these modern era Moro kris are IMHO much, much closer to the real deal than those repros coming out of Luzon...

Regards,
Kai