Kampilan with unusual hilt

[Ian]

Hi Jim:

I have found an occasional bring back of a US serviceman to have been treated with cosmoline or even varnished to prevent rust. These were mainly early 20th C items or immediately after WWII.

I doubt that the Moros would have used that technique to preserve and then rehabilitate old blades. Not heard of them doing that. Basically, old weapons that were no longer serviceable would be recycled into newly forged weapons or other useful items.

Some datus might have been in the habit of stockpiling weapons to arm their warriors in times of warfare, but individual Moro warriors usually carried their own weapons. Captured weapons might well have been stockpiled or handed out to the victors for their personal use--I'm sure an extra battle worthy kris or barung or kampilan was always worth having around the house. Whether some of these might have been refurbished at a later time is hard to say.

Ian