Philippines bolo knifes?

[Will1300]

Hello all.
I recently came across these 2 knifes which i presume is of Philippines origin.
They have some age from what I can make, the thicker one being the oldest I would say.
Perhaps someone can confirm and maybe knows more and can explain since im not big on Ethnographic weapons.
More pictures can be taken.
Both have a smith mark, on the small one its a P and on the big one its more of a symbol which I cant make out.

Much appreciated

[Ian]

Hi Will,

Welcome to the Forum!

Two nice knives. The first one is from mainland SE Asia. The blade profile is fairly widely found in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is an agricultural, general purpose knife. The cord whipping on the scabbard suggests that it may have been a GI bringback from the Vietnam war period.

The second is from Luzon, and I believe the "P" mark comes from the Lake Taal/Batangas area of Luzon, not far from the capital (Manila). It is also a general purpose knife.

[Will1300]

Thank you for the welcome!
Appreciate the help, will keep the forum in mind should i come across some more ethnographic edged weapons in the future!

[kronckew]

First one is a Thai Enep, I have two. Nice knives.

[Will1300]

Ah I see from looking up Enep knifes, interesting shapes overall.
Is there any way of dating them? from the wood and steel I would say it is pre 1960s, if not earlier, like 1930s?.
Otherwise much obliged!

[ausjulius]

Originally Posted by kronckew

First one is a Thai Enep, I have two. Nice knives.

Hehe that's my eneps!.

Yeah first one pictured by the op is an enep a typical type from central Thailand . Relatively recently made.
The other knife is probably from Central Luzon. Philippines with an improvised handle

[ausjulius]

Originally Posted by Will1300

Ah I see from looking up Enep knifes, interesting shapes overall.
Is there any way of dating them? from the wood and steel I would say it is pre 1960s, if not earlier, like 1930s?.
Otherwise much obliged!

Well info about eneps is rather vague. The one you picture isn't very old. It's made probably made in central Thailand .. that area north if Bangkok around chai Nat, uthai Thai, lopburi, nakho swan and the surrounding provinces.
The scabbard is made of two sheets of bamboo and the handle is bamboo. The furrule is a swaged steel tube.

The scabbard is improvised, as most nearly all Thai knives come without a sheath. This has been the case for donkeys years .longer than I've been alive actually.
I don't know why honestly other than the blacksmiths never seem to have been involved in wood working.
In Cambodia and Vietnam I seems also the case.
In my lifetime I've never seen eneps sold with a sheath as common place. If you see 50 types of enep sold you might still not see one with a sheath. Occasionally you will see sheaths ordered after the fact by sellers and sold as an additional item.
But these are not fitted to the knife or even sold with the knife. The customer just buys and enep and tries to see if it fits 😂.
This seems to have already been the case 75 years ago too and you can see imagery of people wearing knives and machetes is uncommon even by that time in Thailand.
Mostly people just hold the knife or stick it in a bag or basket.

At some point the scabbard and handle makers vanished but the blade makers continued.
Because of this when you see a well fitted sheath with fittings on a Thai etoh or enep or other larger knife or machete you can immediately gauge its age. The same goes for a handle with a curvature.
Modern Thai knives just have a round cylinder for a handle, a dowel of wood turned on a lathe the knife seller buys and applies the furrule to. but older knives 100 years or older have a slight reward curve to them or other characteristics that improve cutting,
Old blades are also much much thicker many times. Although not always.
There is two types of scabbard that were historical -bok need.. a wood scabbard and "bam wai", a bamboo or rattan basket scabbard made for knives. These basket scabbards seem to be common in Thai, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and places in Yunnan.
Good in a rice paddy I'd think.

The enep shape extends from Bangladesh to Vietnam and southern china and seems common among several different ethnic groups although among thais it is most common.
A recurve leaf shaped broad blade with a long cylindrical handle.

Very few antique examples survive and generally in Thailand ones you see are all quite recent.
This is mostly because these are just basic household items for people.
When not in use of is tossed some place.
Most commonly stuck into the bamboo wall of a hut as there is most of the time no sheath.
You can find the oldish blades easily enough at weekend village markets sometimes for a few bhat.

They are mostly used as household tools and not intended as weapons.

I've never seen any long bladed ones in Thailand or Cambodia.. but in the east of India around Assam and parts of Bangladesh where far in the past Thai/Dai speaking cultures have been present you can see much longer versions 40-60cm long and more narrow and used more like a machete..


There seems to be 3 types of traditional Thai basic knives/machetes you will encounter . enep, etoh and da the da is basically a sword but can be made as a machete.
Generally however you do not encounter this and you will see an etoh of larger size. A blunt tipped chopper in its place but elongated.

The h'mong or meo ethnic groups have the s as my e style of knife as an enep but some ethnic groups have a small hand guard while others do not. Mostly the Meo or H'mong knives are made completely by one person. The blacksmith makes the handle and sheath so it's rare to buy one without it's sheath in this case.
These can be confused with Thai knives.

You can buy modern nicely made enep with sheaths from Thailand but the price is much higher than the regular enep people buy, these are sold online through Facebook groups for enthusiasts, the prices will be like western made knives..

Some also don't follow the original styles or shapes of enep but have more exotic features.

Hope that's a good breakdown of the enep.
Once you have seen a few old antique ones it's hard to mix up new ones but encountering old antique ones is very uncommon

[Will1300]

Thank you for the great breakdown.
Much obliged!

[Sajen]

Here an antique Cambodian "enep" from my collection.

[JeffS]

Knife from my collection with enep-like profile though sharp on reverse side. Attributed to Vietnam by seller. Sheath is very boxy. Interesting arrow stamps on blade.