[Ian]

I have an old Moro budiak head that was purchased in Davao City in 2003. It is in the traditional style, with a long slim blade and a central panel defined by narrow fullers and a narrow, central, squared-off, ridge. Like many Moro budiak of this style, the central panel shows (faint) signs of twist core construction. The proximal end of the blade is attached to a bolster covered in a silver metal, which may be white brass or heavy silver. The white metal was covered in a very adhesive black substance, much of which remains. I removed sufficient of the black material to show the white metal underneath. (Typically, these bolsters feature a yellow brass wrap, so this one may simply be white brass, and I’ll assume that until such time as it has been tested for silver.) The bolster is attached to the tang, which started out circular but has been flattened on four sides into a more square cross-section. A hole approximately 1/8 inch in diameter has been drilled through the wide are of the tang. I have seen such a hole on one or two other budiak, but it is an uncommon finding in my experience. Perhaps others have more idea of how commonly these tangs were pinned through.

For me, this is a good old honest Moro budiak (probably 19th C.) that has a laminated blade, twist core central section, and nice age patina. Comments are welcome.

OAL from tip of blade to end of tang = 18.0 in. (45.7 cm)
Blade length (from tip to bolster) = 14.25 in. (36.2 cm)
Bolster length (from blade to tang) = 1.0 in. (2.5 cm)
Tang length = 2.75 in. (7.0 cm)
Maximum blade width = 1.75 in. (4.4 cm)
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