# Bolo knife
A bolo is a long, heavy, single-edged knife of Philippine origin, used both as an everyday working tool and, at times, as a weapon.[1](https://emuseum.nyhistory.org/objects/26448/knife-wivory-handle) The name serves as a collective term for a range of long knives and short swords found across the Philippine islands, comparable to the parang or klewang of Indonesia.[2](https://ificah-vr.de/exhibition-you-can-leave-your-head-on/philippines/philippines-room-view-2/hand-knife-bolo-1/?lang=en) • [4](https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/ethnology/weapons-and-shields/) A 1926 Smithsonian catalog grouped bolos as combination piercing and chopping weapons, agricultural knives, and jungle tools, a summary of their dual character.[3](https://jenikirbyhistory.getarchive.net/media/krieger-1926-philippine-ethnic-weapons-plate-12-8c6a38)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Definition | A long, heavy, single-edged knife of Philippine origin; a collective name for various long knives and short swords, similar to the parang or klewang of Indonesia[1](https://emuseum.nyhistory.org/objects/26448/knife-wivory-handle) • [2](https://ificah-vr.de/exhibition-you-can-leave-your-head-on/philippines/philippines-room-view-2/hand-knife-bolo-1/?lang=en) |
| Everyday uses | Farming, hunting, food preparation, and ritual offerings and ceremonies[4](https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/ethnology/weapons-and-shields/) |
| Wartime use | Used alongside firearms by Filipino soldiers and guerrilla groups during the Spanish-American War and the Japanese occupation of the Philippines[4](https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/ethnology/weapons-and-shields/) |
| US military adoption | The US Army 1912 bolo knife, made by Springfield Armory, has a wide curved blade 39.4 cm long; the bolo served US combat forces from shortly after the Spanish-American War through World War II[5](https://www.si.edu/object/us-army-bolo-knife-and-scabbard%3Anmaahc_2018.19.1ab) • [6](https://www.cia.gov/legacy/museum/artifact/bolo-knife-with-leather-sheath/) |
| Typical dimensions | Museum examples range from about 58 to 60 cm overall, with blades of steel and handles and sheaths of wood, often narra[7](https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/89059) • [8](https://philippines.fieldmuseum.org/heritage/multimedia/1195010) |
| Legal status | Philippine Presidential Decree No. 9, as amended by Batas Blg. 624, lists the bolo among regulated bladed, pointed, or blunt weapons[9](https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/assets/pdf/philrep_ebooks/Volume_939.pdf) |
## Form and design
Bolos sit between knife and sword. A university museum account of Philippine arms describes the bolo as halfway between the two, carrying many of the functions once handled by the battle ax.[10](https://www.csueastbay.edu/museum/virtual-museum/the-philippines/arts-crafts/armory/knives.html) Blades are typically of steel with a convex cutting edge suited to chopping; a 1926 Smithsonian catalog entry describes a broad-backed steel blade with a convex cutting edge, in one example with the handle completely shod with figured brass.[3](https://jenikirbyhistory.getarchive.net/media/krieger-1926-philippine-ethnic-weapons-plate-12-8c6a38) The Igorot bolo can be single-edged or double-edged, but the forms share a relatively heavy, front-loaded blade well suited to cutting.[2](https://ificah-vr.de/exhibition-you-can-leave-your-head-on/philippines/philippines-room-view-2/hand-knife-bolo-1/?lang=en)
Surviving examples show the range of sizes and materials. A Field Museum bolo and sheath collected on Leyte Island measures 60 cm long and 6.2 cm wide, with a thin, narrow, single-edged blade curved upwards, a handle of red narra wood carved at the butt into a man's head with animal ears and tusks, and a longitudinally gouged narra sheath held by rattan lashings with a belt of braided abaca fiber.[8](https://philippines.fieldmuseum.org/heritage/multimedia/1195010) An Ifugao bolo and scabbard from Eastern Lepanto and Northern Nueva Vizcaya in Luzon, held at the Peabody Museum, measures 58 x 8.5 x 2.6 cm overall and combines a curved steel blade, wood grip, and open wood scabbard tied with coiled fiber.[7](https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/89059)
## Everyday and ritual uses
**The household tool comes first.** The National Museum of the Philippines traces the bolo to practical use in the household, where it serves as a tool in farming, hunting, food preparation, and ritual offerings and ceremonies.[4](https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/ethnology/weapons-and-shields/) The museum's ethnographic collection houses agricultural tools and fishing and hunting implements, including bladed tools, still used by communities across the country.[11](https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/ethnology/) In Sama mat weaving in Mindanao, the bolo is one of twelve documented local tools; a bolo about one foot long and heavy can slice a pandan leaf and remove its saw-like spines when a knife is unavailable, though weavers prefer the lighter knife for that task.[12](https://journal.usep.edu.ph/index.php/Southeastern_Philippines_Journal/article/download/326/110)
Bolo-making is itself a trade in some communities. In one [Cagayan Valley](https://www.edgepedia.org/cagayan-valley) barangay, knife and bolo-making has been the main source of income for all resident families, with local makers using carabao horn in their craft.[13](https://pcc.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/1303106661vol9no4-2010.pdf)
## Weapon and warfare
Although rooted in household use, the bolo has a long record as a weapon. Lumad groups in Mindanao, such as the Mandaya and Bagobo, used it in pangayaw, or raiding expeditions, and it was adapted as a weapon by the Itneg, Ilongot, Ifugao, and other groups in the Cordillera of Northern Luzon.[4](https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/ethnology/weapons-and-shields/) During the Spanish-American War and the [Japanese occupation of the Philippines](https://www.edgepedia.org/japanese-occupation-of-the-philippines), Filipino soldiers and guerrilla groups used bolos alongside firearms in armed resistance against foreign colonizers.[4](https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/ethnology/weapons-and-shields/) A US Army account of the Philippine-American War period describes "Bolo men" of great physical endurance, organized under their datus or chiefs.[14](https://history.army.mil/Publications/Publications-Catalog/Department-of-the-Army-Poster-Set-US-Army-in-Action-Series/) In World War II, a guerrilla armed with a bolo knife silenced a sentry in a raid several miles behind enemy lines on Luzon, as depicted in the Army's official art series.[15](https://history.army.mil/Publications/Publications-Catalog/The-American-Soldier-Print-Set-5/)
Unlike the highly specialized fighting swords of Europe, China, and Japan, most variants of the war bolo retain uses in hunting, agriculture, and combat at once.[16](https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/ummaa-philippines/2022/08/04/talibon/)
## Adoption by the US military
The bolo entered United States military equipment through the [American colonial period in the Philippines](https://www.edgepedia.org/history-of-the-philippines-1898-1946). The US Army's Model 1912 bolo knife, manufactured at [Springfield Armory](https://www.edgepedia.org/springfield-armory) in [Springfield, Massachusetts](https://www.edgepedia.org/springfield-massachusetts), has a wide, curved blade with a wooden and metal handle shaped with curves for finger holds; the Smithsonian example carries the blade stamps "US / 19530" and "SA [flaming bomb] 1912" and a canvas, metal, and leather scabbard marked by its 1918 maker.[5](https://www.si.edu/object/us-army-bolo-knife-and-scabbard%3Anmaahc_2018.19.1ab) The CIA Museum dates the bolo knife's service with US combat forces to shortly after the Spanish-American War and through World War II, listing uses that included cutting brush, sharpening or cutting wooden tools, digging, and some medical procedures.[6](https://www.cia.gov/legacy/museum/artifact/bolo-knife-with-leather-sheath/) The design also produced hybrid arms: a Smithsonian bolo bayonet associated with the Philippine Islands measures 21 3/8 inches (54.2925 cm) overall.[17](https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_440174)
## Collecting and museum record
American institutions assembled bolo collections during the early colonial period. The Smithsonian's Natural History Museum holds a Manobo bolo-parang from the Philippines donated by General Tasker H. Bliss and accessioned on 13 May 1927.[18](https://www.si.edu/object/nmnhanthropology_8398183) Krieger's 1926 United States National Museum bulletin devoted a plate of its Philippine weapons series to the bolo as a class of piercing and chopping weapons, agricultural knives, and jungle tools.[3](https://jenikirbyhistory.getarchive.net/media/krieger-1926-philippine-ethnic-weapons-plate-12-8c6a38) The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New-York Historical Society also hold Philippine bolo knives in their collections.[19](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/27840) • [1](https://emuseum.nyhistory.org/objects/26448/knife-wivory-handle)
## Legal status
Philippine law treats the bolo as a regulated weapon. Presidential Decree No. 9, as amended by Batas Blg. 624, enumerates bladed, pointed, or blunt weapons as "knife, spear, pana, dagger, bolo, barong, kris, or chako."
[9](https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/assets/pdf/philrep_ebooks/Volume_939.pdf)
## References
1. [Knife w/ivory handle, New-York Historical Society eMuseum](https://emuseum.nyhistory.org/objects/26448/knife-wivory-handle)
2. [Hand knife "bolo", IFICAH virtual exhibition](https://ificah-vr.de/exhibition-you-can-leave-your-head-on/philippines/philippines-room-view-2/hand-knife-bolo-1/?lang=en)
3. [Krieger 1926, Philippine ethnic weapons, Plate 12, United States National Museum Bulletin](https://jenikirbyhistory.getarchive.net/media/krieger-1926-philippine-ethnic-weapons-plate-12-8c6a38)
4. [Weapons, Shields, and Armors, National Museum of the Philippines](https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/ethnology/weapons-and-shields/)
5. [US Army bolo knife and scabbard, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture](https://www.si.edu/object/us-army-bolo-knife-and-scabbard%3Anmaahc_2018.19.1ab)
6. [Bolo Knife with Leather Sheath, CIA Museum](https://www.cia.gov/legacy/museum/artifact/bolo-knife-with-leather-sheath/)
7. [Bolo and scabbard (Ifugao), Peabody Museum, Harvard University](https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/89059)
8. [115463 Catalog Card, Bolo and sheath, Leyte Island, Field Museum](https://philippines.fieldmuseum.org/heritage/multimedia/1195010)
9. [Philippine Reports, Volume 939, Supreme Court eLibrary](https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/assets/pdf/philrep_ebooks/Volume_939.pdf)
10. [Knives, Cal State East Bay Virtual Museum, The Philippines](https://www.csueastbay.edu/museum/virtual-museum/the-philippines/arts-crafts/armory/knives.html)
11. [Ethnology, National Museum of the Philippines](https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/ethnology/)
12. [EthnoSTEM Ideas in the Sama Mat-Weaving, Southeastern Philippines Journal of Research and Development](https://journal.usep.edu.ph/index.php/Southeastern_Philippines_Journal/article/download/326/110)
13. [Philippine Competition Commission, vol. 9 no. 4 (2010)](https://pcc.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/1303106661vol9no4-2010.pdf)
14. [Department of the Army Poster Set, US Army in Action Series, US Army Center of Military History](https://history.army.mil/Publications/Publications-Catalog/Department-of-the-Army-Poster-Set-US-Army-in-Action-Series/)
15. [The American Soldier, Print Set 5, US Army Center of Military History](https://history.army.mil/Publications/Publications-Catalog/The-American-Soldier-Print-Set-5/)
16. [Talibon, UMMAA Philippines, University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology](https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/ummaa-philippines/2022/08/04/talibon/)
17. [Bolo Bayonet, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution](https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_440174)
18. [Bolo-Parang and Sheath (Manobo), Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History](https://www.si.edu/object/nmnhanthropology_8398183)
19. [Knife (Bolo) with Sheath, The Metropolitan Museum of Art](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/27840)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Engineering and manufacturing › Weapons: general concepts and history › Titles symbols to F*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*
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