It is not exactly a barong, but what is it?

[TVV]

Tom and Mike, you have made excellent points, thank you. I just wonder if the barong is suitable for a female dagger, as it is a slashing weapon and while the blade on mine is sharp, I guess the shape of a gunong would be more useful at that size. But I am not an expert by any means, and I like "baby barungs" regardless of what their original purpose was, as they are very well made.

[Conogre]

While the full sized barungs are most deffinitely slashing weapons, the thinner blades and reduced thickness of the small versions would make them equally well suited as slashers/stabbers, with the blades comparable to the small gunongs originally thought to be assasination pieces.
This is what made me think of them as a woman's protection knife, where the main object is to inflict enough damage to escape with her "honor" intact, rather than to kill outright.
In many areas, particularly those of fundamentalist muslim influence or antiquited Christian mores , once a woman is violated, it was and sometimes still is considered her "duty" to commit suicide to avoid bringing dishonor upon her family or clan.
I've run accross this attitude in today's world here in Florida in people of the "old country" that regularly travel between the two, such as to visit relatives, and was amazed at the vehemence towards surrendering "women's knives" in relation to current post 9/11 airlines regulations.
As I said, I may be way off base, but encountering such has opened my eyes towards the possibility of a weapon in contrast to the way a "civilized" westerner might view it in the present.
Mike

[tom hyle]

A woman is always under more threat than a man; there tends to be one more thing people want to take from her.

[Ann Feuerbach]

Does anybody know off hand what wood is used for the handle? Also, what metal to they tend to use on Barongs for decoration on handles?
Ann

[Ian]

Hi Ann:

The most common woods are banati (bunti), which is the striped wood so often seen on better quality barung hilts, and kumagong, which is like mahogany and also used for many Moro scabbards (a little darker than banati and without the stripes). I've also seen a type of ebony used on hilts, mostly from Palawan I think. Lesser grade barung may have a variety of other hard woods whose names I don't know.

The metals used on the ferrules (punto) are silver (common -- often coin silver), brass (fairly common), steel/iron (on lesser grade barung particularly), and gold (rarely). The use of gold decoration was formerly restricted to the Sultan and royal family, and was prohibited for anyone else under Moro law (that seems to have changed in recent years ). Often the gold was alloyed with base metals such as copper to form suassa. I've also seen an example of a gold wash over silver. Some post WWII examples may have alumin(i)um fittings, but these are not common.

Silver, and rarely gold, have been used also to create elaborate kakatua for some of the top end junggayan barung (see my avatar -- courtesy of our forumite Battara).

That's as much as I can tell you. Hopefully some of our Filipino forumites can add more details.

Regards,

Ian.

Originally Posted by Ann Feuerbach

Does anybody know off hand what wood is used for the handle? Also, what metal to they tend to use on Barongs for decoration on handles?
Ann

[Radu Transylvanicus]

Nothing but a "barong" ... I like that "baby-barong" expression ... still I preffer a "whos yoour daddy barong" in hand !

[Battara]

Radu, the last one only works if you barong to the same family.

[Federico]

Originally Posted by Ian

Hi Ann:

The most common woods are banati (bunti), which is the striped wood so often seen on better quality barung hilts, and kumagong, which is like mahogany and also used for many Moro scabbards (a little darker than banati and without the stripes). I've also seen a type of ebony used on hilts, mostly from Palawan I think. Lesser grade barung may have a variety of other hard woods whose names I don't know.

Just wanted to add KAMAGONG is Philippine Ebony, not mahogany.

[tom hyle]

I just got one of these. Overall, I must say that in a sense it reminds me of the baby dhas in its relation to the full size sword. The blade is thin, about 1mm, forged steel with a notable thickening right at the base, and hardened; it's quite stiff, and seems like a decent knife.