Sundang Bisaya
 

Heeding Vandoo's call to arms.
I picked this one up a month ago. Sadly the hilt has a huge crack on one side but not so bad on the other. Hilt carved from horn, I'm suspecting that the octagonal ferrule is brass.
It's on the small side at 20 inches overall with a 15-1/2 inch blade. The blade is pretty hefty at the forte at 3/8 inch thick. The blade is sharpened on both sides. It's a nice little chopper.

A VERY INTERESTING ITEM, I LIKE IT A LOT. :D
WHEN I FIRST LOOKED AT IT I ONLY SAW THE TOP FRONT FACE OF THE HANDLE. THE TOP PART LOOKED LIKE AN EAGLE HEAD WITH A SKULL UNDER IT. LOOKING AT THE OTHER PICTURES THIS IS NOT APPARENT AND IT IS A MORE TYPICAL MONSTER FACE.
FOR SOME REASON THIS SWORD REMINDS ME OF THOSE THAT OFTEN HAVE THE BAT EARED HEAD FOR A POMMEL. PERHAPS SOMEONE CAN COMMENT ON THIS SIMULARITY AND IF IT MAY COME FROM THE SAME REGION. OR NOT?

Currently suffering from a sinus infection, I am getting a kick out of the hilt . :D

3/8ths is a very hefty blade .
Interesting to have a blade profile like that and also be sharpened on both edges .
Or do you mean that it is not a chisel grind ?

Yes what an interesting piece. It may be cracked but nothing is missing! :)

I agree about it being Bisayan.

Congratulations! and thanks for posting.

THE BLADE SHAPE AND SWORD SIZE IS WHAT REMINDED ME OF THE BAT EARED DESIGNS I HAVE SEEN. THE ONES I HAVE SEEN DID NOT HAVE DOUBLE EDGED BLADES THOUGH. THATS A FIRST FOR ME ON THIS FORM.
I HAVE SEEN A FEW HILTS WHERE CARVING SIMULAR TO YOUR EXAMPLE REPRESENTED A LION SO PERHAPS ITS A LION. I WOULD THINK A DOUBLE EDGE WOULD BE USEFUL IN A WEAPON BUT NOT SO MUCH AS A TOOL.


DON'T LET AN ITEM BEING CRACKED THROW YOU OFF. MANY OF MY FRIENDS INSIST I AM CRACKED FOR COLLECTING SUCH THINGS AT ALL :D

What characteristics makes this sword from Visayas? :confused:

dunno bro... looks bicol to me

kino, salamat! spunjer, looks bicol to me, too. and moons ago, 'leaf' posted these pics here at the forum (i marked with 'x' the one that's very similar) ...

Yeah, I knew that :o Thanks, bro. I'm not too keen on the Luzon and Visayas stuff.

VANDOO was right when he said it looked similar to a Minasbad.

Rick, yes it's not a chisel ground blade.

Battara any ideas on how to arrest the progression of the crack?

Here is another similar Bikol manasbad example :D

Spunger, this probably looks familiar to you :p

Kino, I would leave it alone. You can infill it with epoxy but its hard to match aged horn like that with grain. Thnx for sharing.

I'm with Ibeam on treating this - not much you can really do unless you matched the color of the epoxy to the horn.

BTW - thanks for the pics Migueldiaz - helps me see the difference between Visayan and Bicol. I see your point (get it? :D).

MiguelDiaz- I see the similarities in the carvings. Thanks for posting the photos.

Jon- nice one.

I will have to leave things be and just apply some oil to the horn hilt and hopefully that will stop the crack from going any further.

Jose, Albert, I was looking for the 'Like' button ... until I realized that this is not FB! :) Thanks, too.

Wow thats awesome!

Bicol is an interesting region. It is considered a part of the Luzon region(aka Region V), considering the main part of Bicol is still land locked to Luzon...but the Bicol island province of Masbate is considered a part of the Visayan region. The main part of Bicol is not. They are in a way half and half. The main dialect spoken is Bicol, but in the North they can speak Tagalog(Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur), and in the south they can speak Cebuano/Visayan...as well as a mix dialect of Visayan and Bikol which they call "Bisakol". The Bikolanos are considered their own ethnic group, but even from the different and mixed dialects, you can see the impact the Tagalogs and Visayans have to Bicol. And more likely their culture as well. I've noticed the blades there seem to look more closely related to the Visayan region, but I haven't seen any Bicol blades that have a chiseled edge.
Just my observation. :D


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...d/Ph_bicol.png

The similarity in Bicol and Panay swords have been subject of our discussions here in the Philippines. No conclusions reached. But some interesting info:

1) Bicol and Panay dialects have strong similarities;
2) Legend says that 10 Bornean datus landed in Panay and bought the island from the natives for a golden salakot (hat). Most of the datus settled in Panay, but a few moved on to Bicol and settled there.

Albert: If you can get a piece of horn the same color as the handle, try
grinding it to get enough dust to mix with epoxy to fill the crack.
Sometimes the color match can work out really well......Dave

Dimasalang-thanks for the geography lesson.

Dave- It's good to hear from you. Trouble is finding horn that matches. Thanks for the tip. Say hello to your better half for me.