Nice old Moro budiak head for comments

[xasterix]

Originally Posted by kai

Congrats, a neat old budiak, Ian!

The hole in the tang looks machine-made and seems to have pretty crisp edges: Not consistent with the other worn surfaces which might point to at least first half of the 19th century.

I'd posit this hole was a later modification - maybe for securing it to a replacement pole or even mounting on a wall...

Regards,
Kai

Hullo Kai, I'm genuinely curious- supposing the hole was made in modern time, what specific machine can do this? I'm not a smith by any chance, so I'd like to know how it's done. I've also seen such holes in kris and Lumad tangs, and I've always been curious how that was managed.

[kai]

Hullo Ray,

Since the tangs are not hardened, pretty much any metal drill will do - either hand-driven or power tool.

Regards,
Kai