Purok Bolo

[Pinoy Blade Hunter]

Purok Bolo, whose ethnicity we have yet to exactly determine. (in some tribes, a similar blade profile would be called "dayumpak")

It is very light, with a thin blade. More akin to a knife than a bolo. The file skates on its edge, which means that it is hardened, not a tourist souvenir blade. With a very subtle distal taper.

Handle is made of bahi wood, which is wrapped by some sort of fiber close to rattan, but to my touch, it is quite softer than rattan. Or is it just thinner strips of rattan?

The gentle curving belly of the blade makes it a good chopper and slicer for meat or vegetables, or soft wood.

The sheath is made of a frame made of 2 light wood material bound together by interweaved rattan, making into a thin, upright basket.

The sheath is decorated by 2 woven and beaded strips of abaka cloth. The one on top looks to be Tboli Tnalak weave. But the one on the bottom, I am not familiar with.

This may be Tboli, this may be Bagobo, if you have other information on this blade, its design and embellishments, please feel free to share in the comments section.

Thank you
PBH

[Ferguson]

Looks similar to a “coconut knife” that I have. It is posted HERE

Steve

[Pinoy Blade Hunter]

looks similar indeed! thank you for sharing!

[Battara]

I am leaning toward Bagobo due to the bead work on the cloth.

However, I say this cautiously due to the fact that there are so few T'boli small knife examples. Both tribes are close and trade with each other, so influences could also migrate as well.

I'd like to hear other's input on this. But for posting this - maraming salamat!

[Ian]

Hi PBH,

I agree completely with Jose. This is a common Tagabawa Bagobo work knife that was carried by all men. Mainly used for cutting wood and other everyday purposes. I have another example to show.

BTW, purok means "short" in the Sarawak dialect of Malay. This may or may not be relevant. The blade on my piece is reasonably short, as are the other examples shown here.

Ian.

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