OLD BARUNG 1

[kai]

Hello Ian,

The blade again may be older than the hilt and scabbard. The tortoise shell at the throat of the scabbard dates from about the 1960s and later, and the kakatua pommel also looks fairly recent. This could be a refit of an older blade, but it could also be entirely mid- to late-20th C.

Have you seen any 20th c. barung blades with these blotches? I've only seen them with well-balanced blades that I believe to older.

Seems I haven't been paying enough attention to the younger generations of barung: Wasn't the first appearance of these "modern" hilt styles as well as the ridged scabbard placed around the early 20th c. with later additional modifications and a continuing decline in quality around/after WW2?

Thanks for any update/correction!

Regards,
Kai

[Ian]

Originally Posted by kai

Hello Ian,

Have you seen any 20th c. barung blades with these blotches? I've only seen them with well-balanced blades that I believe to older.

Seems I haven't been paying enough attention to the younger generations of barung: Wasn't the first appearance of these "modern" hilt styles as well as the ridged scabbard placed around the early 20th c. with later additional modifications and a continuing decline in quality around/after WW2?

Thanks for any update/correction!

Regards,
Kai

Kai, I'm not sure about the blade "blotches." Prominent blotches are not particularly common in my experience. I do have a high end 19th C. barung with a suassa punto and silver bands on the hilt, which shows these features prominently (see attached pictures). As far as blotches being exclusively on older blades, that is very hard to say. With the increased use of monosteel, mostly post WWII, I think the likelihood of blotches went down considerably.

There are various styles of hilts that appeared in the 20th C, and I think Cato described several. The "eruption" of the kakatua crest from the back of the hilt (rather than a continuous flowing curve with the rest of the pommel) seems to date from the 1930s, or maybe a little earlier. Again, it's hard to know because the likelihood of an early example of anything surviving to today and falling into our hands is rather slim. What we see probably post dates the earliest introduction by some amount of time, which may be a decade or more. What suggested to me that this hilt was somewhat recent is its carved decoration which does not strike me as usual on older forms of this style of kakatua.

I've attached an enhanced view of the OP to my first post in this thread, which seems to show some form of colored material on the blade. This looks like varnish that was applied to prevent rust. Some of this material may also be giving the appearance of blotches on the blade.

The ridged scabbard is a 20th C feature that seems to have appeared sometime in the 1930s, maybe a little earlier, and gained prominence post WWII.

Those are my impressions.

The attached pictures show a 19th C datu barung from Sulu.

.

[kai]

Thanks for your input, Ian!

That's a really sweet barung! Could you please post a view of the "top" of the pommel, please?

I don't think your blade exhibits the blotches I was speaking of - I'd describe this pattern as resembling clouds (achieved by forging laminated steel). [There might be a single "real" blotch over the circular forging flaw(?) close to the middle of the left side.]

The blotches in the other two examples are real and not just an artifact from surface treatment; they seem to originate from introducing rather large bits of high-carbon steel into a matrix of milder steel (with apparently only limited forging afterwards). I've seen a few of these blades - they are not common though.

Regards,
Kai

[Ian]

Ah, I see what you mean Kai. I think what you are calling blotches may be deliberate inclusions that are forged into the steel. I don't have an example of that style of blade.

The OP of this thread has a blade that is very "dirty" and hard to read. I'm not entirely convinced that these "blotches" are actually in the blade rather than an artifact on the surface. The blade needs a good polish (and probably an etching) to be sure.

Such inclusions could have some mystical significance. I can't see how they would alter the performance of the weapon much.

[kai]

Hello Ian,

I think what you are calling blotches may be deliberate inclusions that are forged into the steel.

Exactly. Only that these often polygonal inclusions with pretty crisp margins present quite an enigma how such an effect got achieved by the bladesmith.

The OP of this thread has a blade that is very "dirty" and hard to read. I'm not entirely convinced that these "blotches" are actually in the blade rather than an artifact on the surface.

Apparently it exhibits a combination of both kind of features.

I can't see how they would alter the performance of the weapon much.

No, they won't. I've never seen these blotches to extend into the hardened edge.

Also both sides differ from each other. Thus, the blade sems to be a sandwich construction rather than exhibiting any inserted edge.

AFAIK, such a kind of mosaic pamor is not found in antique blades from anywhere throughout Indonesia.

Regards,
Kai

[Battara]

Kai has a point (every pun intended ).

We have seen some examples where an old blade or metal with perhaps special value or talismanic value gets reused into making a new blade. Not easy but some do this still today with different metals to make similar patterns on knife blades today.