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.

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.

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

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.

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

Hello Detlef,
nice barung, you got there! and a good price as well.
not the initial choice of ferrule material, but yes, copper has been used from time to time.
would love to see that barung all cleaned up!

here's another example:

Thank you Ron for both, your kind words and for posting this example with copper ferrule. Like said before, will post pictures again when I have received it and worked on it. Will clean & etch the blade and will give the wooden handle oil as well I will polish the copper.

Regards,

Detlef

Have received the barong. There is unfortunately a small piece at the crest of the handle missing. The resin was broken out and replaced by exposy. The ferrule isn't from copper but from brass, maybe with a high copper content. The blade I have cleaned but there have been old grinding traces which I don't was able to polish away. The etching with vinegar wasn't succsessful but it is still a nice piece.

nice aunt-eeks!

all i have are these recent ones.

Here are my barong at this time. (1-4 have been shown before; #3 & #4 are just upthread.) Individual photos, measurements, and comments for each are in http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=19144

#14 and #15 are modern, #10 & #13 are decorated blades, #6 is touristy.

Here are my lonely Barong. The one in the image provided, I have always wondered if it is Borneo.

My other from the Sulu region with a triple core twist blade is seen here;
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...anta+christmas

One of the best ones I had that I enjoyed very much is now with Charles;
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...=silver+barong

Gavin

Hi Gav,

These types are for sure my favorite.
Yours is in perfect condition.
I think Borneo is a very good option, and I would say it is.

Kind regards,
Maurice

I liked this thread a lot when I was starting my steel-collecting journey, so I'm necro-ing it. Here's my favorite so far.

I've added one since my last post on this thread:

Nice shadrigan blade!

Burst of activity in January 2012, them self-extinguishing dribbling up to 2014. Than silence until today. And... B-a-aahm! Another wave ( like covid).
I love how this Forum works: nothing is forgotten, new information is posted in bursts, and sometimes it changes the way we look at things.
It is like one of the main laws of Talmud: there is no before or after, our understanding may be interruptible, but always deeper and deeper.
Good job, colleagues!

I suspect that the so-called " low-end" examples were the real battle one. The ones with handles of exotic materiels and with artistically carved fragile handles likely never saw a real fight.

The Bud Dajo one is, IMHO, priceless. It carries with it an awesome story.
If I were collecting Philippine weapons I would have chosen it over the rich and intricate ones.

Forget to add this one Mid-20th c. Zamboangan with simple Maranao hilt. Guess they couldn't be bothered to get the pommel protrusions carved.25in. LOA in scabbard, 15.75 in. (40cm.) blade, 2.75in. wide, 4mm thick at the spine, 675 grams.

That depends sir. There are lavishly dressed samples that have "wise" blades. The kris in my avatar has an ivory pommel and suassa hilt, but the blade has chips and is slightly bent, obviously used in battle. Conversely, there are also non-lavish samples that were never used, and are perfectly preserved.

Cord Weave Hilt
 

I only have a couple of these - a simple hilt with a nice twist-core blade which I picked up from Gavin years ago (currently in storage and no photos to hand), and this one picked up very recently. I've only had a chance to give it a quick wipe down so far.

It's had a bit of a hard life, but I thought it was worth posting as it has a poor man's version of the wire wrap on Pepperskull's barong - exactly the same I think except it's in cord which has frayed quite a bit.

A small area of corrosion on an otherwise nice hollow-ground blade, and an old collector's number on the hilt.


Measurements

Length 56cm
Hilt 15.5cm
Ferrule 17 x 3 x 2.4cm
Pommel 16.5 x 3.8cm
Finials 1 x 0.8cm
Blade length 40.5cm
Blade width 3 > 6.5cm
Spine 0.8 > 0.1cm

A really nice piece! This one has a lot of character. I like how the original owner wrapped the whole hilt...I've wielded a very similar-looking sample, but its blade wasn't shandigan.

I posted 2 barongs on the same day that this thread was begun not realizing that it was started, so let me add 3 of my other blades.

Merciful Lord...that's a king's ransom of really nice barungs! Great collection!

Drac2k, nice batch of barungs, the scabbard wrappings on them are giving me ideas...

Thanks, guys.

Beautiful barongs drac2k!

Here a update of my ones, some are gone, some are new to the collection.

WOW Sajen, pretty darn nice ones you got there yourself; and with scabbards!

Thank you! :) But yours with the inlaid blades are outstanding.

The scabbards by the first one from left and the second from right are not original to the blades but fit them fairly well. The two at right are shadigan blades, not good to see in the pictures.

Just received this barung last week, passed on by another forumite =) so difficult to get rid of the leaf-blade bug.

True, I have more barungs than I have hands to use them.

Is that dark streak in the scabbard a crack or a darker graining? A closeup of the carving near the scabbard mouth and of the grip pommel would be useful too. And, I have this odd desire to oil & rub my wood scabbards with furniture oil... Might do the Kris ones too.

:) I love the R'eyes' mark on the blade root...cool trademark. Mfg by M.Reyes I presume.

Hi sir, it's a crack...the scabbard is damaged. I've included additional pictures.

Nice, I'd be tempted to wick some superglue into the handle crack & possibly fill the scabbard defect with a wood putty or filler of some sort if you can do it without blocking the entrance of the blade, or possibly just wrap it in a few spots with rattan or other appropriate cord. But that's just me...

More Barongs
 

Here is my contribution

Very nice collection, Roy!

Yup, cool stuff. Excellent!

Agree! :) :cool:

Amazing collection! One of the best I've seen so far. May we inquire for more info regarding the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th samples? The 6th sample seems extra interesting as it has provenance note.

Hello Xasterix.
Can't tell you too much about them as I find Barung nomenclature somewhat confusing.
However, #5 is slightly hollow ground but it does not have a pronounced rib so I don't think it could be called shandigan.

The inscription on #6 is hard to read. I can only make out:-
From (somewhere) village
I cannot read the second line at all
Bought by Col Bird ?
April 4 1900

Cheers
Roy

I enlarged it, and sharpened it a bit. I still can't make out anything on that second line. The rest would make a good example for a doctor's handwriting, it's so obscure. Maybe someone else can try?

(somewhere) could be “Moro”

2nd line, 1st word crossed out “Sul”, as in Sulu, 2nd word looks like “Island”
3rd word, the last 4 letters looks like”jolo”