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Post by treeslicer on Feb 21, 2023 20:14:10 GMT
I've got this on the way, from an antique shop in CT. Here's some seller's photos (fixed by me), and one piece of some artwork I'm collecting for the eventual review. I think the blade will clean up nicely.
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Post by markus313 on Feb 21, 2023 20:50:35 GMT
Ohh, nice!
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Post by randomnobody on Feb 21, 2023 22:30:41 GMT
I'd love a barong, but the ones I can almost justify the asking price for (<$300, with scabbard) get snapped up as fast as I can find them. Can't spend any more, shouldn't be spending that much, but I think we all know how it goes.
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Post by treeslicer on Feb 22, 2023 0:12:19 GMT
I'd love a barong, but the ones I can almost justify the asking price for (<$300, with scabbard) get snapped up as fast as I can find them. Can't spend any more, shouldn't be spending that much, but I think we all know how it goes. Though wanting one for years, I hadn't been able to justify it either, until this one suddenly popped up, and, as soon as I added it to my watch list 1, the seller 2 pitched me a special offer for $200. I deeply considered the offer for however many seconds it took me to get to the "SUBMIT" button on the Checkout page (while SWMBO was behind me hissing "Get it, get it, it's not going to last!!!!!}.
I know what I'll be telling the priest it's for, when I drop a buck in the "Blessing Jar" at church, this Sunday, and he'll be shaking his head again......
The barong shipped today after I put this thread up. Tomorrow I plan to select the wood I'll carve the scabbard from, and make sure that all of my chisels and gouges are hair-splitting sharp.
1. After fully evaluating the pics and all before adding it to my Watch List, and noting that 13 other people were already Watching it.
2. A business with many years of perfect and glowing feedback, who doesn't handle many things like this. Now, if you are shopping their classic Americana, don't expect any pricing lapses.....
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Post by randomnobody on Feb 22, 2023 1:13:55 GMT
$200 is not bad. Looks like it could use some cleaning-up, but I don't know your/the greater stance on restoration of these knives. I'm still trying to decide if I want to clean the old oil of my two kalis...
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Post by treeslicer on Feb 22, 2023 2:10:02 GMT
$200 is not bad. Looks like it could use some cleaning-up, but I don't know your/the greater stance on restoration of these knives. I'm still trying to decide if I want to clean the old oil of my two kalis... $200 + (rounded) $13 shipping and $14 sales tax is still less than TFW wants for a reproduction. Restoration on these is not a no-no. You need to polish them properly (and sometimes etch) to bring out the patterns in the steel.
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Post by randomnobody on Feb 22, 2023 2:18:48 GMT
Antiques are also far more interesting than the offerings at TFW. Not sure I'd polish an antique, myself, but etching seems simple enough.
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Post by treeslicer on Mar 1, 2023 2:24:58 GMT
It arrived yesterday, and it's an antique all right, IMHO, probably picked up after one of the crater battles. It shows a mixture of battle damage (seems to have been stopped twice, once in full swing and once in full thrust, by an interposed, probably Krag, rifle), abuse (some I've seen before, peculiar to its having served as a grunt's camp knife), and neglect, but, being piled-construction DH, is still quite serviceable, and is now holding a very fine edge. I'm carving a proper scabbard from some of my aged windfall magnolia, with hand tools, and used the barong itself for some barking and rough shaping on the log I picked. I'll put an article on the barong either in this section or in Sword Reviews, haven't made up my mind which yet.
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Post by randomnobody on Mar 1, 2023 14:47:32 GMT
Looking forward to more photos.
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Mar 1, 2023 19:55:20 GMT
A bit late on this thread. I too would like to see it after cleaning and your scabbard. I had an official print of that picture years back. I’ve now forgotten from which government department.
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Post by treeslicer on Mar 11, 2023 18:10:49 GMT
The sheath is done, here's some photos. The article is in preparation.
The wood used is this magnolia log cut from a windfall in my backyard.
I ripped boards from it using the Japanese handsaw shown. All other work was done with gouges, planes and knives. The blade channels inside were "chalk fitted", and the blade is held firmly. No power tools or sandpaper were used. The finished design is loosely based on Moro originals in various museums, and on Visayan sheath examples I've handled. The halves are held together with tight jute fiber twine bindings (in lieu of rattan), no glue was used.
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Post by pgandy on Mar 11, 2023 18:28:04 GMT
I like. They look like they belong together. I’ve had plans to do something similar for my pinuti, but I've never gotten started yet. Maybe one day.
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Post by randomnobody on Mar 11, 2023 18:57:56 GMT
Looks good.
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Post by treeslicer on Mar 31, 2023 20:08:33 GMT
What started out to be a very long and detailed paper suddenly got cut short last night. My research on the 1899-1913 Moro Rebellion against US rule in the southern Philippines unexpectedly led me to a photograph that pretty well settled the origin of my barong.
The photograph above, in color, shows the barong, as it is now, supported at an angle, with the right side exposed. The photo below is the same view in black-and-white, with some fill flash added..
The photograph above, shows an apparently identical barong, with several points of similarity to mine. The picture is a detail cropped from a photo taken in Jolo, P.I., on August 14, 1909, of a Tausug juramentado who had just been killed. If that isn't my bolo, then it's a close enough match to identify mine from, as being a Tausug fighting barong from circa 1909. Before anyone brings it up, the beadlike objects looped around the grip rings are probably a string of pearl or white jade prayer beads that didn't stay with the barong.
The blade is 14 1/2 " / 36.6 cm long, 2 13/16" / 7.2 cm wide maximum, and 0.42" / 11.6 mm thick at the base. The POB is 3" / 7.7 cm from the hilt. The distal taper in thickness proceeds smoothly along the length of the blade, reaching zero at the tip. The hilt is 7 3/4" / 19 cm long, and the LOA is 22" / 56 cm.
The blade has been badly pitted, but one can still make out some patterning in the steel. A very definite quench line is visible on both sides of the blade.
The hilt, while it has a kakatua pommel of the usual banati wood, is of unusual construction, and I have not found another quite like it in any of the online collections I've looked at. The ferrule, about 3/4" / 2 cm long, is of thick-walled brass tubing. The grip above it is covered in a spiral-wrapped layer of the sort of brass wire commonly used by Dayak women to decorate their bodice hoops, a layer of hard black lacquered cord, and then separated rings of more spiral-wrapped brass wire. The kakatua pommel is also unusual in how the eyes are formed on the beak side. The grip is quite positive, comfortable, and solid.
The pommel also has a very pronounced median ridge, and a thick, shiny coat of lacquer which appears original.
The blade, as noted earlier in the thread, shows some damage. Besides the pitting, which indicates a period of rusting, the back shows clear signs of having been pounded on with a heavy, narrow steel object more hardened than the back of the blade. I suspect that the barong was used as a froe to split firewood and kindling in the American manner, probably assisted by blows from the back of a bayonet.
In addition to the signs of neglect and misuse, there is a shallow, curved depression in the edge, associated with a stress crack which seems to have been produced by a mighty impact against a hard metal cylinder. There is also a deflection of the point, along with a slight curve encompassing the entire length of the blade. I consider these indications consistent with combat use against someone who was parrying the barong with a military shoulder arm of some kind, produced by a slash caught with the barrel, and a thrust arrested with the side of the stock.
A nice view of the left side
When I carved the sheath, I decided to make the walls thicker and more rounded than traditional Moro examples, to make it stronger, prevent cracks, and protect my fingers. The projections at the top were omitted as well, as they have a tendency to break off. I also wanted the replacement sheath to be obviously just that. For comparison, I have shown some examples from the same period and area below.
In closing, I sharpened the piece and tested it on the usual targets. It handles very well, and cuts superbly, leaving as sharp and clean a slice on pool noodles and foam rubber as my katana do. It cuts the local shrubs and vines quite efficiently.
Well, there it is. Start flinging your comments.
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Post by treeslicer on Apr 1, 2023 17:59:17 GMT
This is to bump the thread. The write-up is open for business.
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Post by pgandy on Apr 1, 2023 18:43:12 GMT
Many thanks.
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AndiTheBarvarian
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Apr 1, 2023 19:05:48 GMT
Cool!
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Post by pgandy on Apr 1, 2023 19:37:38 GMT
A question came to my mind while chowing down. I think that you have enough knowledge with blades in general for this question. How is the metal hardness in that blade? For an example, would a villager be able to sharpen it as a field expediency with a rock? And at this point have you any idea how the edge is holding up?
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Post by treeslicer on Apr 1, 2023 20:15:05 GMT
A question came to my mind while chowing down. I think that you have enough knowledge with blades in general for this question. How is the metal hardness in that blade? For an example, would a villager be able to sharpen it as a field expediency with a rock? And at this point have you any idea how the edge is holding up? Yes, it could be field sharpened with a hard sandstone or volcanics. The edge hardness is adequate to hold a fine edge, but won't preclude sharpening with a siliceous whetstone like my Jnats. After cutting a bunch of the 2" lianas common hereabouts (mostly muscadine grape, strangler fig, and Virginia creeper), it didn't need sharpening before slicing pool noodles. The edge holds up just fine.
BTW, the construction of the blade is complicated. There's a core of folded strips linearly piled, with a thick outer strip of harder-quenching steel that the edge and point are made of. It wraps around the point with a raised forge weld line that can be felt with the fingers (due to the corrosion in that area; it was originally flush), and can be seen in the photos.
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AndiTheBarvarian
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Apr 1, 2023 20:29:52 GMT
Cool, like early medieval spathae!
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