A Nice Small Punal

[Ian]

Hi David.

I agree pretty much with all you have said. There certainly were better made gunong in the past. This was mostly in terms of high end materials, as you note, rather than departure from a simple design. Your example is a beautiful and elegant gunong and typifies the simplicity of the knife at that time. I used the word "fancy" more to describe the embellishments to that simple basic form: the addition of a "bulb" to the middle of the hilt, the use of multimedia in construction of the hilt, and decoration of the blade with okir engravings.

No disrespect intended in using the word "chicken" to describe the sarimanok. Manok means chicken in many Philippine dialects. If you prefer to substitute "bird" that works for me too.

As far as mono-steel versus laminated steel, that's a whole separate discussion of metallurgic characteristics and forging. Many laminated blades perform excellently, but their forging and tempering required considerable skill to obtain a high level of performance. By and large, I think mono-steel did not require the same level of skill in forging and tempering the blade, with gradual loss of the older techniques over time.

Ian

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Ian

As far as mono-steel versus laminated steel, that's a whole separate discussion of metallurgic characteristics and forging. Many laminated blades perform excellently, but their forging and tempering required considerable skill to obtain a high level of performance. By and large, I think mono-steel did not require the same level of skill in forging and tempering the blade, with gradual loss of the older techniques over time.Ian

Hi Ian,

This is exactly the reason why I believe that gunongs with laminated blades have some good age and are worked for real use since it makes no sense to work laminated blades for those who travel.

Regards,
Detlef

[David]

Originally Posted by Ian

No disrespect intended in using the word "chicken" to describe the sarimanok. Manok means chicken in many Philippine dialects. If you prefer to substitute "bird" that works for me too.

I didn't mean to say you were being "disrespectful" when i used the word "dismissive". It is true the the word "manok" has come to mean "chicken" in many, if not most Filipino dialects. But originally the word just meant "bird". "Sari" is a garment of multiple colours. Unfortunately the common modern usage of manok has made most modern depictions of this legendary bird look more like a chicken (rooster). I believe initially, while this bird may have has certain features such as a comb that are rooster-like, this bird was not intended to be considered a chicken.
This bird had a very strong spiritual position in Maranao culture, being a link between the seen and unseen worlds, which is part of why i endorse the theory that the junggayan pommel was intended to be a representation of this mythical bird.

[Battara]

David I will agree with you on the junggayan form being a sarimanok. Sari in Tagalog was not so much a clothing but meaning a various something, like "sari-sari" meaning something like "a little bit of this and a little bit of that".

[kronckew]

Short note: MY gunong above, after etching with vinegar, shows a hardened edge. The edge is also extremely sharp.

[David]

Originally Posted by Battara

David I will agree with you on the junggayan form being a sarimanok. Sari in Tagalog was not so much a clothing but meaning a various something, like "sari-sari" meaning something like "a little bit of this and a little bit of that".

Thanks for the correction José. I did not mean to imply that the word meant "clothing" per se, but rather that in this context to refers to the multi-coloured (i.e. various) "clothing" the bird displays.