A Kampilan blade - from where?

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by VANDOO

THE INFORMATION I HAVE ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PHILIPPINE MORO AND BORNEO KAMPILIANS POINTS TO THOSE FROM BORNEO HAVING SHORTER JAWS. SEE TWO EXAMPLES. PHILIPPINE MAHOGANY WOULD BE A GOOD WOOD AS IT DOESN'T SPLIT WHEN WET SO WOULD FARE WELL IN A SALTWATER ENVIRONMENT.

Vandoo, thanks for the pics! I'm not familiar with Bornean weapons. But as for Ilanun/Iranun kampilans, one of the documented Ilanun kampilan hilt forms is per images below. We can see that it is also short-jawed.

This kampilan sketch, captioned as "Kampilan Illanoon", appeared in Edward Belcher's Narrative of the voyage of HMS Samarang (1848). I've earlier blogged about the topic here and here. Thanks.