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#1 |
Member
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 629
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This sword is hotly debated among my blade expert friends. Did it come from Central Cebu, or Eastern Visayas? Is there still a living traditional smith who can resurrect this blade from obscurity? How many variations are there?
These questions hound this blade, yet for me it's an awesome weapon, one that can dispose of even the thickest of water bottles very cleanly (I can just imagine what it can do one's limbs or head). In the spirit of other past threads I've read here (Show us your Barung! Show us your Bangkung!, etc) I've thought of starting this thread to give some love to this particular talibong- which I've simply labeled as 'Pulahanes' in memory of those that wielded this particular weapon in my country during the 1900s. To start it off, here's mine. I found it ignored and rusty in an antique shop without a scabbard (I had one built to accommodate it). Estimated by a blade expert-friend to be pre-WW2. 25-inch blade with heat treatment still intact, 7-inch hilt. Forward-weighted, gathers momentum pretty fast. Got three microcracks near the tip, and heavy patina at the 'action' portion of the blade. Once sharpened, cut like a beast. Share your talibong/s as well! |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Germany, Dortmund
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Hello Xasterix,
there should be a lot in the collections of our members, hope they will post their examples. Here my ones, the first two pictures show the examples I have here in Germany, a Garab and two Talibon, I guess that the big Talibon is a very rare variant, worked for a left-hander. I am a left-hander so it's my personal weapon! ![]() ![]() The next two pictures show another Talibon, one with a horn handle, the handle binding need to get restored. Next pictures show a rather recent addition to the collection so only seller pictures. Regards, Detlef |
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#3 |
Vikingsword Staff
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 6,283
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My example is deep in one of my storage chests; but here is a picture from the History of Steel exhibition at the Macao Museum of Art some years back... until I can dig it out and re-photograph it.
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#4 |
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Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Minneapolis,MN
Posts: 336
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Talibong/Garab?
I might have a few. ...and also a very curious cat. Have fun, Leif |
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#5 |
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Witness Protection Program
Posts: 1,730
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Just a couple
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#6 | ||||
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#7 |
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If I may add a rejoinder- any thoughts regarding the varying belly width of talibongs? Which do you think are the older variants- thin ones or the thick ones? Or they coexisted at the same time period?
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#8 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Room 101, Glos. UK
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I have a couple of 'villager' garabs and a talibong. all right hand chisel edged. All razor sharp. All from Jun Silva, from the Cebu area, latter half 20thc.
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#9 | |
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#10 |
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[QUOTE=xasterix]Great weapons, and I'm surprised at the belly-width of some of those talibongs! How many inches is the thickest among them?/QUOTE]
Thank you! ![]() Regards, Detlef |
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#11 | |
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#12 | |
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(I have a ginunting he made too) Topic on |
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#13 |
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 998
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Here are mine.
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#14 | |
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#15 | |
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#16 | |
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#17 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2018
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Also, how is it with regard to handling? Is it forward-tipping as well like the angled hilt variants, or does it just glide along smoothly? Btw, credits to Filipino Traditional Blades Facebook page for the photos I'm attaching. Last edited by xasterix; 13th November 2018 at 06:46 AM. |
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#18 | |
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#19 |
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Here is mine. It was captured/turned in on the island of Bohol, July 1901.
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#20 | |
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#21 |
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Thank you. This was I believe use by the "Bolo Men" on Bohol who fought against the Americans during the Philippine-American War. They were formidable in the bush and only after the end of the war did they surrender. Some of the Bolo Men (what the American forces called them) were from Cebu and moved there to fight under Pedro Samson. This was probably a captured piece from fighting in or near the town of Tagbilaran, Bohol.
Some of this information is actually written in fading ink on the scabbard. |
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#22 | |
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#23 |
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Actual blade length is 23 1/2 inches. Good guess range.
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#24 |
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Hello everyone. Just poking this old thread to ask for assistance from generous forum members. I've been scouring through all available references within reach for more than a month, and I'm thinking I'm finally closer to pinpointing the local name of this weapon (it's not 'garab'; it goes by another name). I would be most grateful if any of you who own a talibong that has any engraving, whether symbolic or in words, can either post a pic or type the contents. This might help me accumulate more clues towards thorough identification of this particular blade.
Maraming salamat in advance! |
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#25 |
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Location: Germany, Dortmund
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No one which is in my posession show an engraving of any sort on the blade, sorry.
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#26 | |
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#27 | |
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#28 | |
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#29 |
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Hi, just reviving this thread in the hope that more people will contribute samples. This was passed on to me by a fellow forum member recently; it's a fine specimen and I'm honored to be entrusted with it.
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#30 |
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Join Date: Mar 2020
Location: Sanibel Florida
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Only have two... but here they are. Always hunting more... but so hard to come by.
Thank you all for sharing your collections and knowledge. |
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