Philippines dog-head machete

length: 24"
blade: 18"
blade width: 1 1/2" base, 3" max
grip: 6"
weight: 1 lb 6.5 oz

Philippines dog-head fighting machete, very typical of the Philippine insurrection period (late 18/early 1900's). The blades for these weapons were regound and remounted British trade machete blades, redone by native smiths into penjak-silat fighting blades. Good for chopping bits from Brits, Americans, Dutch, and all sorts of colonial invaders. The "dog heads" were to prevent the weapon from slipping out of the user's grasp, and the rounded sharpened ends were for slashing and cutting while pushing away, which was much preferred to having the blade imbedded, thus trapped, if the opponent is stabbed. The wide tipped blade also made for devastating cuts - these guys took "disarming" an enemy very literally. My good friend Conogre passed along the history and identification of these machete from Joe Wienbeck, a collector of Philippine items who also teaches Philippine silat in the St. Paul Minn. area, and the information was seconded by another silat instructor residing in California, Raymond Talaroc, whose mother was a Moro from Mindanao.

8/18/01