Club from the Philippines

kronckew · 31st August 2007, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

Fishing in a small canoe and you hoick on board a 5-6ft fish one had better stop it flapping about. The same tool might stop a 5-6ft man flapping about even if people have heavier bones.

caution, slight thread veer ahead.

anecdote: reminds me of a patrol we went on in the USCG Cutter i was assigned to in kodiak, we stopped overnight one sat. in a small bay in the aleutians for some respite from the weather, one of the crew went fishing, caught a fluke (flatfish similar to a plaice or flounder) that was about 6ft. & a few hundred pounds. it took him a few hrs. to get it to the surface, the captain allowed the ready boat to be lowered to pick it up, but it was still quite mobile & the coxswain was a bit leery of being in the boat with it, so he thwacked it a few times with an oar. no effect. they wound up getting a .44 magnum out of the armoury and shot it in the head 6 times. it became a bit more cooperative then & it was with effort hauled into the boat and eventually on board & down to the galley. the crew (about 60) ate on it for quite a few days. tasty. did not have any knobkerries on board, or i'm sure we would have tried one.

we now return you to the regularly scheduled program.

Nonoy Tan · 31st August 2007, 12:48 PM

The club is 70 cm in lenght and 0.3 kilograms in weight. Here are more pics.

Based on documentation, this specimen was collected from Bilanse Village, Nueva Vizcaya (in the 1890's ???). Further research confirmed that the village was predominantly Bogkalut and Ilongot. The club also came with spears that were of the early-type of Ilongot.

CourseEight · 31st August 2007, 01:28 PM

Definitely NOT floss silk; the cross section looks nothing like that, though the weight is about right. I can't find any cross sectional pictures of rattan, but I think it looks something like that? Or some other kind of palm...

kai · 31st August 2007, 08:08 PM

One more vote for rattan - nice find!

Regards,
Kai

fearn · 31st August 2007, 09:15 PM

Thanks for the end pics, Nonoy.

I agree with Kai, partially. It's definitely palm wood, probably rattan.

The wood is definitely a monocot, not a broadleaf (aka dicot) tree. Dicots are the ones that produce tree rings, and if it was a dicot, we would either see no pattern or the classic bulls-eye radial pattern.

Monocots include palms (such as rattan), and they evolved to be trees independent of the monocots. Instead of being organized radially, palm wood has bundles all over the place, as we see here.

Bit of a botany lesson, but for anybody who didn't know, this is how you tell palm wood from some other hardwood.

F

31st August 2007, 12:48 PM	#2
Nonoy Tan Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 293	More specs The club is 70 cm in lenght and 0.3 kilograms in weight. Here are more pics. Based on documentation, this specimen was collected from Bilanse Village, Nueva Vizcaya (in the 1890's ???). Further research confirmed that the village was predominantly Bogkalut and Ilongot. The club also came with spears that were of the early-type of Ilongot. Attached Images

31st August 2007, 01:28 PM	#3
CourseEight Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Coral Springs, FL Posts: 222	Definitely NOT floss silk; the cross section looks nothing like that, though the weight is about right. I can't find any cross sectional pictures of rattan, but I think it looks something like that? Or some other kind of palm...

31st August 2007, 08:08 PM	#4
kai Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 3,255	One more vote for rattan - nice find! Regards, Kai

31st August 2007, 09:15 PM	#5
fearn Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,247	Thanks for the end pics, Nonoy. I agree with Kai, partially. It's definitely palm wood, probably rattan. The wood is definitely a monocot, not a broadleaf (aka dicot) tree. Dicots are the ones that produce tree rings, and if it was a dicot, we would either see no pattern or the classic bulls-eye radial pattern. Monocots include palms (such as rattan), and they evolved to be trees independent of the monocots. Instead of being organized radially, palm wood has bundles all over the place, as we see here. Bit of a botany lesson, but for anybody who didn't know, this is how you tell palm wood from some other hardwood. F