Go on... show us your Barung!!!

[kai]

Congrats, Timo - interesting acquisitions!

I'd posit that all warrant etching and close-ups posted in seperate, dedicated threads.

#3 is 565g, about 6mm thick near the hilt. Cuts very nicely. The grip is wrapped in cord (hemp?), going over part of the metal fittings. What sins might it hide?

Is that cord or fabric? Cord wrappings over the silver sleeve a very common to enhance the grip. Looks like a good, antique warrior piece to me and close-ups may tell wether any work needs to be done.

#4 is 610g, about 6.5mm thick near the hilt. Blade has broad fuller (or should I call it hollow-forged?). Seems like a very heavy hilt. Just cleaned this yesterday; it was a little dirty when I got it (very recently).

That's a shandigan blade (the wear may indicate quite a bit of age). Neat scabbard and hilt - I like it!

The scabbard is in poor shape, with lots of splits in the wood along the grain, and the two halves mostly separate. But nothing missing, so just the kind of thing that would be "traditionally" fixed by wrapping with black electrical tape. A less Western solution would be rattan or hemp cord. Would need to lacquer (or some suitable glue). Is there any traditional of fabric wrapping?

Rattan would be the way to go if really needed. Any wooden pins remaining or traces of these? A careful restoration should help to preserve this scabbard.

Is #5 a barong? The blade has an asymmetric profile - the left side is flat, and the right side is convex. The blade is thin; just over 5mm at the hilt, but within a few centimetres, it thins to about 4.5mm.

No. Visayan and looks pretty recent (post WW2).

Regards,
Kai

[Timo Nieminen]

Originally Posted by kai

Is that cord or fabric? Cord wrappings over the silver sleeve a very common to enhance the grip. Looks like a good, antique warrior piece to me and close-ups may tell wether any work needs to be done.

Cord. The cord has something gluey slathered over it; also the blade end of the hilt has the same "glue". Looks (and feels) like dirty grey-brown PVA glue.

Originally Posted by kai

Rattan would be the way to go if really needed. Any wooden pins remaining or traces of these? A careful restoration should help to preserve this scabbard.

It needs something, at least at the throat, since there are 6 long splits in the wood along the grain, about 1/3 - 1/2 of the length of the scabbard. The back (i.e., the part where the back of the blade sits) is the worst. Tight strapping, especially with glue/lacquer will hold it.

I can't see any pins, wooden or metal, just two pieces of wood. Hidden pins? Considering that the two halves are separate along most of the blade edge, and a past modern regluing attempt has come loose, it would be good glue holding the ends of the scabbard together with no pins at all. But I can't see any.

Originally Posted by kai

No. Visayan and looks pretty recent (post WW2).

It clearly isn't a Moro barong. But as a taxonomic question: when is a barong-like thing a barong, and when is it not a barong?

[Spunjer]

the Barung is indigenous to the people of the Sulu Sultanate. it has a distinct blade and handle. there are blades in the visayan region that has a somewhat similar profile, but they are referred as something else, depending on what island they were originally from.

[migueldiaz]

thanks ron for the comment. just to add to that, the leaf-shaped blade profile can also be found in northern philippines, for instance in northern luzon (see att. pic). in there, it's called a buneng, which is their generic term for a utility blade.

[Sajen]

This one will come to my collection soon: http://www.ebay.com/itm/251239550702...84.m1439.l2649

Will post pictures when I have received it and have worked on it.

Have someone seen a barong before with a copper ferrule?

Regards,

Detlef

[Battara]

Interesting piece. Nice to have it complete instead of broken off pieces.

Copper ferrule........well anything is possible since I have seen brass, white metal, silver, and even the rare gold versions. Copper - not until now.

[Sajen]

The unbroken handle and the very good price was the reason why I bought it. I am curious to hold it in my hands to see which metal the the ferrule is worked from.

Regards,

Detlef