Knives

Without a doubt, the most essential tool in the Philippines is the small, utilitarian sportsman's knife, used for everything from harvesting palm fronds, to dispatching prey, to digging holes.The majority of agricultural tribes make their own knives; nomadic peoples like the Agta purchase theirs from others.

To the bolo, halfway between knife and sword, now falls many of the functions once handled by the battle ax.

As with swords, skill in the manufacture of daggers is most developed in the south, where the steel and brass virtuosity of Toledo was imparted to the natives by invading Mohammedans.