Edges from my Ancestral Homeland

[joslar15]

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For your pleasure, I thought I'd share with you some pics of my blades from the Philippines. I don't know if you'll be able to see it or not, but in the Provincial Seal of Batangas, the Balisong is prominently displayed within the crest. I am Batangueno from Dad's side of the family.

For size reference, the floor tiles are standard 12x12.

The top blade is a tourist grade souvenir samurai. Don't let the souvenir aspect fool you, it is sharp and holds it's edge rather well.

The second and third blades are examples of the bolo. The first of the two is shown with it's wood scabbard, while the other has it's leather sheath packed in a box somewhere.

Last but not least are a couple of my Balisongs. The one with the eagle has deer antler scales and brass liners and latch, while the black one is some kind of plastic with aluminum liners and latch.

I guess I need to adjust my photobucket settings as the original images were larger than 1024x768.

 

[indyplinker]

Third one down is very nice looking, looks like it could cut through just about anything.

 

[rhino]

joslar15 ... my paternal grandmother was from Batangas as well.

Back in about 1976 or so, my father brought home three samurai-styles swords (two long an done short). The handles and one side of the scabbards are carabao horn with some silver-colored metal inlaid like rivets (looks like aluminum). The opposite sides of the scabbards are some kind of dark hardwood, probably mahogany.

They two were very sharp when they arrived here. I suspect they were forged and ground from old leaf springs from trucks.

He also brought a bolo with similar decorations, which is clearly a serious cutting tool and not a cheap piece of tourist crap.

I have one good quality balisong, but I can't locate it presently. I hid it in a drawer when I moved to California for grad school back in 1987, and when I returned home in 1991, I could not find it. It's somewhere in the house. Anyway, the blade is wider than typical and was made from an annealed file. Its high carbon content and very sharp edge made it easy to make crazy sharp! The handles are brass (probably made from spent artillery shells) with some kind of bone inlays. The latch is on the Batangas-style side, so it's the one you flip if you don't want to cut your fingers off. Heh. In addition to being a fine knife, it has sentimental value. My dad told one of my cousins I wanted one so he'd take him somewhere to buy one. Instead, he gave my dad his personal knife to give to me!

I remember back in the late 1970s I asked my dad to teach me how to open and close it one-handed. He flipped it open, then closed, faster than I could follow. Then he handed it back to me and said, "go practice."