We visited a family member in Alfonso, Cavite, in the Philippines. Her home has a small garden in the back filled with various fruit trees and she insisted we take some fruit with us. Part of what caught my eye was the machete being used. That you can see above.
I turned out that her husband enjoyed making knives before he passed away. He shaped the steel, made the handles and the wood sheaths. I wish I could have taked to him.
The handle was about 8″ long and the blade is about 12″ long. This side of the handle still has the ferrule to keep the wood from splitting. The blade does have a sickel shape and the cutting edge was facing me (downwards in this photo). Any steel surface wants to rust in the Philippes. It’s due to humidity and salt in the air.On this side, the ferrule is gone. The handle didn’t have a forward taper but he did have a slight bulge at the front to help with gripping the blade and not sliding forward onto the blade.The handle had cracked and been glued at some point. The blade thickness is a tad under an 1/8th inch.
That is the knife they use for everyday tasks. When they heard I am interested in knives and used to make them, they brought out two the husband made that they keep indoors.
This knife immediately caught my eye.He ahd braided string to make a neck strap when climing trees and the overall color was very nice. It would fully seat in the sheath – I didn’t realize it was partly out when I was snapping photos.The handle was about 6″ and he would taper the handle down slightly as he went forward. This knife was in much better shape than the first and you can just see the silver ferrule where the handle transitions to the blade.My best guess is that he differentially tempered the blade by first tempering the blade and then pouring hot water on the edge. The greyish discoloring is the telltale sign. It’s not consistent but clearly it has held up over time. The blade shows marks from plenty of sharpening.This blade is right arond an 1/8th inch or maybe a tad thicker. The handle had cracked a bit.His work on the sheaths was exemplery. He cut the two halves, carved the channel he needed to hold the blade, glued and then clamped them together. I wish I had a good photo of the side – you have to really look for the seam where the two haves come together to find it.
This third knife, I didn’t think we’d get to see it. The blade had rusted into the sheath. My older relative went into her house and came back with it separated. She’d used a small hammer to tap it out – she’s in her 70s and knows how to fix things “old school”. She wanted me to be able to see it.
I’m glad we could see this one, The handle is about 6″ long and the blade is about 8-9″. He had clearly upped his game both in terms of the handle and the sheath. The blade had a bit of a recurve grind also. My guess is that someone else made the ad hoc sling.. Odds are they put it away wet too and it rusted.This side of the blade did show some forging marks. I did recommend to the relative to brush off the rust as best she could and apply a little bit of oil to preserve the blade. We weren’t there long enough or I would have done it.This bade was also about an 1/8th inch thick. Note the slight crack in the handle. The ferrule is still there.
Summary
We were only able to stay for about an hour and really appreciated their sharing the blades with me. I truly wish I could have met their maker but in many respects he lives on with them and his family.
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.
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 🙂
