Filipino Knife Maker On Bohol Island In The Philippines

During a recent trip to the Philippines, we visited the island of Bohol. We happened to drive through the village of Loay and saw a shop by the road with an enormous number of blades of all sizes and shapes for sale so we stopped.

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This was the “Bulaklak Blacksmith” shop and at J233+QFH, in Loay. The maker was busy at a grinder and I can only assume it was his wife showing us his wares. Bohol has a booming tourist industry with beautiful beaches and I am sure this stand was trying to capitalize on this. We were visiting at the beginning of September which is when the tourist season is drawing to a close.

He had produced a huge number of machetes and various knifes of all shapes and sizes. We also saw various types of implements such as steel rake heads, steel poles with heavy cutting heads and more.

What struck me was his shop. There he was with very basic equipment – a forge, anvil, hand tools, a stick welder, grinder, and so forth cranking out his wares.

If you are ever on the island of Bohol, the store and shop make for an interesting stop.

With his finished wares outside facing the road, he was inside cranking out the work. He was grinding the whole time I was there. Note it was 83F with a ton of humidity and there he is on a dirt floor getting work done. Also note the truck leaf springs. The knife makers of Nepal, known as kamis, also get leaf springs to make knives – the alloy works great for them. You can see the poles with cutters on the end – I can guess they are for digging holes or some kind of clearing activity. On the table are various machetes in the works.

Here’s a better view of the work in process and his furry helper who woke up just long enough to look at me and then went back to sleep. The machetes I saw were averaging about 3-4mm in thickness.

This was maybe a fourth of the knives he had done and ready for sale. Handles were either wood or hollow buffalo horn. The scabbards are of a died wood. The ferrule on the handles is actually a tightly braided twine. Noote the steel rake heads.

Here are some large general purppose knives. The handles are all hollow water buffalo horn.

Not only was he prolific but there were all kinds of styles from small hunting knives to machetes to swords. Traditional Filipino styles as well as Nepalese kukris and Japanese natas.

The majority of the knife blades were of a “villager” style without a lot of finishing and polishing work. By the way, I am very fond of villager-style blades as they really have character. In some cases, such as the sword and blades in the top center, he could turn out more refined work.

I didn’t think to ask if he sells any blades for locals. I would have really liked to see them. However, we had a schedule to keep as we were going on to see the Tarsiers and Chocolate Hills so we had to get going.

If you have ever wanted to visit and very affordable tropical resort, we stayed at the Bellevue Resort and it was beatiful. Great staff, facility and food.

This was the view from our balcony. You can see one wing of the hotel portion on the left and the thatched roof is the restaurant.

Looking back at the restaurant and our wing of the hotel. Again, great place to stay.

If you find yourself in Bohol, check out the Bulaklak blacksmith’s shop and if you are looking for a resort, check out the Bellevue. By the way, we were visiting family and I don’t have a habit of jetsetting 🙂

I hope this helps you out.

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