Interesting Bolo
 

Here is a small but interesting bolo that I acquired lately. It has a 13-1/4 inch V ground laminated blade that is 5/16 inch thick at the hilt and 1-1/4 inches at its widest point. It also has a 6 inch false edge. The hilt is made of wood and has a few cracks due to shrinkage. This bolo was supposedly brought back after the Spanish American War. My main question is where in the Philippines is it from? With the v ground blade I would say Luzon but the blade tang does not extend through the hilt the way most Luzon edged weapons do. Any help offered would be greatly appreciated.

Robert

Hi Robert,

I have no clue from where it is but it is a interesting blade with the mark on the spine. And it seems that the blade is laminated, do you have etched the blade?

Regards,

Detlef

Hello Detlef, and thank you for your interest in this. I have not etched the blade on this bolo, this is what showed up after I cleaned the built up dirt and grime off of it. I really do not like to etch blades unless it was the practice of the people that originally made them. I prefur to just clean oil and wax them to help preserve and protect them while they are in my care.

Robert

I think in this case it isn't necessary to etch the blade since the lamination is good visible.

Regards,

Detlef

My best guess on this is that it could possibly be another transitional piece with a Bicol blade with a Tagalog hilt ??? :confused:

Robert

Bicol too is what I'd think this came from, for reasons that Robert mentioned. There's a blade there called sinampalok, which I'm still researching on. Perhaps this bolo is an example of that. But it's too early to tell. We will see later. Thanks Robert, for sharing the pics!

Hello Lorenz , and thank you for taking a look at this and for your opinion. If you would, could you please post what you find on the sinampalok (whether this turns out to be an example of one or not) here on the forum? I tried a search on the internet using "sinampalok" and did find some pictures but none were clear enough to make any kind of positive identification.

Robert

Another example ?
Top one . :shrug:

Hello Rick, The top one could very possibly be from Bicol, especially with the file work at the base of the blade. It reminds me of the file work that you see on alot of the minasbads in this same area of the blade.

Robert

The blade is kind of crudely made; laminated, lots of forging flaws and pretty thin in cross section ... say 3/16th spine thickness tops .

What an edge though ! :eek:

Those are all Span Am bringbacks w/provenance; they belong to another member now .