Javanese machete??

[Henk]

I picked up some new stuff I would like some info/opinions about so I will show them in some new threads.
The first one is a machete that I cann't place very well. I looked in the book by Van Zonneveld and found some possibilities. For me it is a javanese piece.
Parang Bengkok, Ruding Lengon (I guess not) or most likely Telabuna.

[tom hyle]

Telabuna; now there is an interesting word
This bears a striking resemblance to a type of (Southern?) European bill. Frankly, I think I would've guessed that, if I came across it. Can't tell from photos; for all I can see the handle could be darkly patinaed ash wood. Even the long tapered ferule would not be completely out of place on European gardening tools, though it's not what is usually seen on bill-knives (AFAIK; there is such a profusion). Where did you get it? Why do you think it's Asian? Is the wood more clearly identifiable in person? BTW, an inlaid edge, forged surfaces, and a fibrous/layery wrought iron body would also be fairly typical of earlier/quality European work swords (in sharp contrast to the modern European military swords). Is the tang emergent at the but t(probably close to conclusive if it is? Not much help if it isn't.....)?

[Henk]

Tom,

Any input is welcome. It is hard to see if it is forged. I cann't discover any signs of forging. The ferule shows spurs of filework. The blade is patinated and used and very sharp. I wouldn't like to get a blow with it. It is a very heavy thing. About the wood I have no idea. It has a nice grain. The pics show the wood just as it is. The wood is placed into the ferule and probaly, if there is a tang, it is mounted like an axe.

I bought it on an estate. I saw it and had something like, it is heavy and looks good and old. Not to expensive, so a nice object to examine. The shape was a bit kudi like. So my first idea was Asian. Also a bit the grain of the wood did give me that idea. When I buy something like that I have two books that I consider as the books that might give an answer. Stone and Van Zonneveld. In the book by Van Zonneveld I found drawings of weapons with a similar shape of the blade. The Telabuna came mostly in that direction, so that is my thought about Asia, Java.

However, I do agree with you that the ferule doesn't look Asiatic. Your european thought isn't such an odd one after all.

Well Tom, lets wait if anybody can tell us what it is.

[zelbone]

This looks very similar to a Filipino working bolo called an espading. It's a bolo used for cutting sugar cane. Usually, the blade wouldn't be so bulbous on the side with the hook and would be more parallel with the other side. To use an espading, you would hack at the cane with the blade and then use the hook part to cut any remaining fibers of the cane if it the blade didn't slice completely through. On your example, it doesn't quite look like a true espading, but it could be a different variation from what I've seen. Like I said, the blades on typical espadings are usually more parallel. The hilt also doesn't look typical as well. Your example has a hilt that looks like it was turned where most espading hilts are your typical ovoid or octagonal profiled hilts found on most bolos in the Philippines. Interesting piece.

[tom hyle]

Yeah, the turned handle seems European, but it's a thing seen in SE Asia (Is parang patani the one that looks like a panabas? Think of those). Likewise, the blade seems to be exactly a (southern?) European bill knife. If there were a piened tang I'd say "game over" or whatever, but there's not, and though that could go either way, it leans to Asia. I feel much the same with the long tapering ferule; it could go either way; it's seen on European gardening tools, but not usually a cutting sword, while it's not entirely dis similar to S PI sword ferules.

[Henk]

A parang patani is a possibility. I found this thread from DA Henkel. http://www.vikingsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000598.html

One of those parangs, the seventh one shows some similarity.

[Kiai Carita]

Originally Posted by Henk

I picked up some new stuff I would like some info/opinions about so I will show them in some new threads.
The first one is a machete that I cann't place very well. I looked in the book by Van Zonneveld and found some possibilities. For me it is a javanese piece.
Parang Bengkok, Ruding Lengon (I guess not) or most likely Telabuna.

In my village this is called either 'arit gedhe' (big sicle) or 'bendho'... It is commonly used in Java to cut firewood and other round the forest-garden-chores. Usually the hilt is not as nice as this one. It is definitely a peasant's utilitarian weapon, usually forged locally by pandhe.

Salam.

[Henk]

Kiai,

Thanks for your answer. An arit gedhe (big sicle) as you called it, is certainly true. But a bendho is, if I'm not mistaken, more a golok axe shaped machete. If you think a piece of metal in the hole that forms the sickle, it becomes an axe shaped weapon. But as you said, forged localy by a pandhe you can have your wishes, I suppose. If I look in the book by Van Zonneveld I see a drawing of a bendo in what I suppose is a traditional one, just like the one I own. If this particular weapon is a bendo, as you say, may I presume that there are more varities in the shape of a bendo?

Thanks and regards, Henk

[Kiai Carita]

[QUOTE=Henk]Kiai,

If I look in the book by Van Zonneveld I see a drawing of a bendo in what I suppose is a traditional one, just like the one I own. If this particular weapon is a bendo, as you say, may I presume that there are more varities in the shape of a bendo?

Yes, Sir, there are basically two variations of the bendho one like this photo and the other without a pointed tip. If without the pointed tip it is never called an arit gedhe, always a bendho. The ones with a tip like this photo are often called a bendho around and West of Yogyakarta, but never East of Solo. If the bottom has an axe-like part then it is called a kudi, rare, usually with a longer handle.

Regards,
Kiai Carita.

[Henk]

Thanks Kiai,

Through this wonderful forum we learn every day from each other!!!

Regards, Henk

[Ian]

Henk:

This is an example of the golok form of bendo, similar to the one shown in van Zonneveld.

The blade is very heavy and thick, with spine thickness 3/8 inch at the hilt and tapering to 3/16 inch about a 1/4-inch before the tip. The blade length is 9 1/4 inches and maximum width is 2 1/4 inches. The hilt is nicely carved.

The scabbard has been repaired and resembles the style shown in van Zonneveld.

This one is probably from Java.

Ian.

[marto suwignyo]

Kiai yth

I wonder if you could help me with something.

You tell us that the agricultural tool with a recurved tip, and known as a bendho around Jogja is never called this east of Solo .

Now, when I live in Java, my house is in Palur, which is east of Solo, and we call the tool shown by Henk a bendho, and we also call another tool that is essentially the same as a European billhook or pruning hook, a bendho.The tool that we call a bendho is similar to Henk`s tool, but without the swelling , the blade being only recurved, this one sometimes gets called a parang, which of course it is, as parang is generic, and bendho is specific.

My wife comes from Pare, near Kediri, and that`s a long way east of Solo. I showed her the picture of Henk`s bendho and asked what she would call it. She told me that she would call it bendho. I then got my own bendho from the garden shed ( this one came from Boyolali, and looks like a European billhook or pruning hook) and asked her what that was called in Pare. Again she told me it was a bendho. I am inclined to believe that her identifications are accurate, as her father owned a business which amongst other things, produced tools commercially, and my wife herself once owned a dairy farm.

Neither I nor my wife have ever heard this tool shown by Henk, referred to as an "arit gedhe", and our understanding of an arit gedhe is of something quite different to what Henk has shown. Again, neither of us know of a tool called a kudhi, but I did show the picture of Henk`s tool to a friend who comes from Jember, and who has lived in both Bogor and Pamekesan, and he immediately identified it as a kudhi. The tool with a curved blade and a little axe-like projection near the handle I have only seen a couple of times, and my notes tell me that it is called a "luke"(pron:lukeh).

I understand very well that the names of things can change from village to village, so in order to help improve my own understanding of Javanese terminology I would greatly appreciate it if you could tell me :-

1) the approximate location of the place where Henk`s tool is known as an "arit gedhe".

2) what a tool that looks like Henk`s tool, but without the swelling in the blade---that is, something like a European billhook or pruning hook---would be called in this place.

3) the approximate location where the tool with the axe-like projection near the handle is known as a "kudhi".

Please understand:- this is in no way a challenge to you; I understand that you are Javanese, and I believe that you would know exactly what things are called in your own village. My enquiry is simply to assist my own understanding of the variations in usage of the Javanese language.

Thank you for your assistance.

[Amuk Murugul]

Hullo everybody,
Just for the sake of completeness.....

Originally Posted by Henk

..... I picked up some new stuff I would like some info/opinions about so I will show them in some new threads.
The first one is a machete that I cann't place very well. I looked in the book by Van Zonneveld and found some possibilities. For me it is a javanese piece.
Parang Bengkok, Ruding Lengon (I guess not) or most likely Telabuna.

The photo shows a common tool referred to by the Soenda as:Tjongkrang (a short chopper with a beak-like downward hook, i.e.billhook). Usually carried w/o sheath. Often carried by farmers on night-watch. Used for general chopping of grass/scrub..... also the hook was traditionally used for chopping off the tip of a coconut husk.

Originally Posted by Ian

.....
Thanks for clarifying the name for this tool. I, too, called this particular example a golok when I acquired it. Then I found a nearly identical chopper in v. Zonneveld (p. 34) which he identified as a bendo from West Java. So, even Mr. v. Z. can make a mistake, or perhaps there is a regional variation in terms that differs from your own experience. In any case, it is very confusing for someone from a different culture trying to understand these terms from a distance.

The photo shown is that of a short golok Soenda.... or more colloquially referred to by the Soenda as:Bedog.
This example was made in Soemedang, in one of the villages like Tjikeroeh, Tjipatjing, Tjisoerat etc.....

Best,

[Billman]

The Rijksmuseum for Volkenkunde in Leiden (Holland) has a similar tool, sadly no data given. When I first saw this some years ago, my first impression was it was a copy of an European billhook - very similar are found in Portugal - I thought it was made in Asia in one of the European settlements...

Later I learned a little about the history of the local edge tool and weapon making...

[Billman]

This one is classified differently, but is shown as being from: Madura / Jawa Timur / Jawa / Indonesië, as is its twin (inventory No 3600-2855)...

[Billman]

And then they get even more bizarre (to European eyes...) - also listed as from Java Indonesia....

[Billman]

This style is found in Northern Spain and Portugal - the similarities in blade shape was what first caught my eye...