Barong restoration suggestion...

zelbone · 15th December 2004, 05:52 PM

Hey Spunger, nice barong. The only way to really fix that is to pop the hilt off, straighten the punto, and then carved the little wood shims that fit between the punto and the blade. That's if you want to do it the correct traditional way. I'm sure Battara would agree with me about that.

BUT...

As Lew mentions, the wood epoxy putty works pretty good and is a lot easier than than carving those anoying little shims. Plus, you can stain them to whatever color you like.

Here's some photos of a barong restoration I did about a year ago. Shelley and I were at a collectors arms show here and this seller sold me this little talibon, a dagger from Luzon, and this junked barong for about the price of a carton on smokes and a few six packs (i.e. dirt cheap

) The barong was in such sad shape that Shelley passed it up. I couldn't refuse. Anyways, the hilt was off and there was a huge chunk of wood missing from the side of the hilt, the wrapping was mostly gone, and a little chunk of wood missing from the beak of the kakatua. The only redeeming quality of the barong was the blade...it was covered in cosmoline and it had a complete scabbard (which also needed work.) I took it home cleaned off the cosmoline and then etched the blade to find a wonderful damascus pattern. I then decided that since this is going to be a total restoration of the hilt or rebuild, I didn't care too much about traditional methods and opted for modern conveniences. It wasn't a datu class junggayan hilt, but your ordinary fighting barong. So here are some pics of the stages of restoration. The first pic is the hilt off the blade with some epoxy putty I used to build up the missing chunk of wood. The second pic is fitting the hilt onto the blade to size things up. The third photo is adding more epoxy putty to build up the grip area. The last photo is the grip area filed down and sanded into shape

zelbone · 15th December 2004, 05:55 PM

The next set of photos shows more work on the punto. The first phot show how mangled the punto is. The second photo shows me straightening out the punto on a miniature anvil I have with a tiny ball peen hammer...I got both of these at a gunshow awhile back. The last photo shows the somewhat better rounded punto on the hilt.

zelbone · 15th December 2004, 06:01 PM

These two photos show how I jigged up the blade and hilt for gluing. I used a putty type epoxy here as well, but the darker stuff for metal. I used one of those squeeze clamps to hold the blade in place to the hilt. I then clamped this upright on my little B&D workmate. This way the epoxy would seep out even though it was a putty form. Worked great.

zelbone · 15th December 2004, 06:10 PM

This is the part that will interest you, Spunger. Once the blade is firmly glued into the hilt. I taped off the punto and the blade with some masking tape. This is so the putty wouldn't get onto the outside of the punto and on the blade. I then added some putty into this gap between the punto and the blade. Use a putty knife to smooth it out. I also had this jigged up just like before when I was gluing the blade to the hilt to keep it pretty level. Once the putty sets, sand down the putty to your liking. It's probably safer to leave the masking tape on until your done sanding. Once your done, remove the tape and do whatever sanding is necessary...I did more final sanding to the hilt.

zelbone · 15th December 2004, 06:21 PM

Finally, add your finishing touches. For this barong. I first did a single layer wrap with hemp. For added grip, I added a second layer of braided hemp in short sections. I would have done it the way the do this in Sulu, but I can't figure it out and is way too complicated. I could have asked my father, but it's been a long time for him do something like this. The next photo shows me laquering the hemp grip. Traditionally, you would use pitch, but since I decided to use modern methods from the beginning, I mixed up some clear laquer (believe it or not its the Testors model airplane stuff you get at hobby store) mixed with some black pigment (I used this India ink I had laying around in an old calligraphy set...HEY IT WORKED

!) The laquer also helps bind the fibers of the hemp together and seals it. Finally, the last step was to stain the wood putty in the punto. I chose a dark stain...I forgot what color it was...I think rosewood. Looks real enough to me. The last photo is the completed barong. I wish I took a better pic of it. See...it wasn't that hard to do.

Spunjer · 15th December 2004, 08:56 PM

mmmmkay. let's see, where was i? oh yeah, how do i remove the punto *scratch head*

?

zel, nice job. definitely archive this thread. i'm afraid that's way too advance for me. this barong is too purty for me to screw up on. i think i'll settle with the pitch option. so where can i get this pitch? also, mabagani, can you elaborate a little bit more on "You could round out the ferrule edge by working a rod from the inside before you decide on pitch or epoxy"? thx in advance...

15th December 2004, 05:52 PM	#1
zelbone Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: VISAYAS and MINDANAO Posts: 169	Restoration of trashed barong Hey Spunger, nice barong. The only way to really fix that is to pop the hilt off, straighten the punto, and then carved the little wood shims that fit between the punto and the blade. That's if you want to do it the correct traditional way. I'm sure Battara would agree with me about that. BUT... As Lew mentions, the wood epoxy putty works pretty good and is a lot easier than than carving those anoying little shims. Plus, you can stain them to whatever color you like. Here's some photos of a barong restoration I did about a year ago. Shelley and I were at a collectors arms show here and this seller sold me this little talibon, a dagger from Luzon, and this junked barong for about the price of a carton on smokes and a few six packs (i.e. dirt cheap ) The barong was in such sad shape that Shelley passed it up. I couldn't refuse. Anyways, the hilt was off and there was a huge chunk of wood missing from the side of the hilt, the wrapping was mostly gone, and a little chunk of wood missing from the beak of the kakatua. The only redeeming quality of the barong was the blade...it was covered in cosmoline and it had a complete scabbard (which also needed work.) I took it home cleaned off the cosmoline and then etched the blade to find a wonderful damascus pattern. I then decided that since this is going to be a total restoration of the hilt or rebuild, I didn't care too much about traditional methods and opted for modern conveniences. It wasn't a datu class junggayan hilt, but your ordinary fighting barong. So here are some pics of the stages of restoration. The first pic is the hilt off the blade with some epoxy putty I used to build up the missing chunk of wood. The second pic is fitting the hilt onto the blade to size things up. The third photo is adding more epoxy putty to build up the grip area. The last photo is the grip area filed down and sanded into shape Attached Images

15th December 2004, 05:55 PM	#2
zelbone Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: VISAYAS and MINDANAO Posts: 169	The next set of photos shows more work on the punto. The first phot show how mangled the punto is. The second photo shows me straightening out the punto on a miniature anvil I have with a tiny ball peen hammer...I got both of these at a gunshow awhile back. The last photo shows the somewhat better rounded punto on the hilt. Attached Images

15th December 2004, 06:01 PM	#3
zelbone Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: VISAYAS and MINDANAO Posts: 169	These two photos show how I jigged up the blade and hilt for gluing. I used a putty type epoxy here as well, but the darker stuff for metal. I used one of those squeeze clamps to hold the blade in place to the hilt. I then clamped this upright on my little B&D workmate. This way the epoxy would seep out even though it was a putty form. Worked great. Attached Images

15th December 2004, 06:10 PM	#4
zelbone Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: VISAYAS and MINDANAO Posts: 169	This is the part that will interest you, Spunger. Once the blade is firmly glued into the hilt. I taped off the punto and the blade with some masking tape. This is so the putty wouldn't get onto the outside of the punto and on the blade. I then added some putty into this gap between the punto and the blade. Use a putty knife to smooth it out. I also had this jigged up just like before when I was gluing the blade to the hilt to keep it pretty level. Once the putty sets, sand down the putty to your liking. It's probably safer to leave the masking tape on until your done sanding. Once your done, remove the tape and do whatever sanding is necessary...I did more final sanding to the hilt. Attached Images

15th December 2004, 06:21 PM	#5
zelbone Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: VISAYAS and MINDANAO Posts: 169	Finally, add your finishing touches. For this barong. I first did a single layer wrap with hemp. For added grip, I added a second layer of braided hemp in short sections. I would have done it the way the do this in Sulu, but I can't figure it out and is way too complicated. I could have asked my father, but it's been a long time for him do something like this. The next photo shows me laquering the hemp grip. Traditionally, you would use pitch, but since I decided to use modern methods from the beginning, I mixed up some clear laquer (believe it or not its the Testors model airplane stuff you get at hobby store) mixed with some black pigment (I used this India ink I had laying around in an old calligraphy set...HEY IT WORKED !) The laquer also helps bind the fibers of the hemp together and seals it. Finally, the last step was to stain the wood putty in the punto. I chose a dark stain...I forgot what color it was...I think rosewood. Looks real enough to me. The last photo is the completed barong. I wish I took a better pic of it. See...it wasn't that hard to do. Attached Images

15th December 2004, 08:56 PM	#6
Spunjer Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Witness Protection Program Posts: 1,730	mmmmkay. let's see, where was i? oh yeah, how do i remove the punto scratch head ? zel, nice job. definitely archive this thread. i'm afraid that's way too advance for me. this barong is too purty for me to screw up on. i think i'll settle with the pitch option. so where can i get this pitch? also, mabagani, can you elaborate a little bit more on "You could round out the ferrule edge by working a rod from the inside before you decide on pitch or epoxy"? thx in advance...