Sikatuna Blacksmith Industry (The Home of World- Renowned Bohol Blades)

Overview

Blacksmithing in Bohol is a pre-colonial craft that predates Spanish contact. In the municipality of Sikatuna, the tradition continues through a small number of forging families who produce edged tools and blades by hand using methods passed down through generations.

The most documented operation is Bohol Blades, formalized in 2018 through a partnership between entrepreneur Cid Cempron and the Prieto family — third-generation forgers based in Sikatuna. Cempron handles materials sourcing, marketing, and customer coordination; the Prieto family handles the forging work.

The steel used for the blades comes from the leaf springs of decommissioned automobiles. For quality control, the blacksmiths use only primera leaf springs — original Japanese-manufactured springs from old vehicles, particularly Toyota Corolla models and Isuzu Elf trucks. The carbon content of these springs produces blades with the hardness and edge retention valued in working knives.

Handles are made from Philippine rosewood (locally available hardwood) or carabao horn. Sheaths are crafted from hardwood and finished with brass or bronze fittings.

The product line is divided into three categories: knives, utility blades, and weapons. Each piece is made individually by hand, with production time ranging up to 30 days depending on the complexity and size of the order. The blades are exported internationally — clients come from multiple countries — with the defining qualities being sharpness and the quality of the hand-finished edge.

Economic context. Sikatuna is otherwise a farming municipality — corn, coconut, and root crops occupy most of its rolling inland terrain, and visitor traffic is generally thin. Against that backdrop, Bohol Blades is a genuinely export-oriented craft business: a small inland workshop with no beach or dive shop nearby, shipping hand-forged blades to buyers well beyond the province. The 2018 partnership — Cempron handling sourcing and customer coordination, the Prieto family handling the forging — is a fairly rare example, for a town this size, of formal business structure built on top of an inherited household craft.

A pre-colonial craft, still worked by hand. Blacksmithing in Bohol predates Spanish contact, and the Prieto family’s lineage as third-generation forgers places their working knowledge of reclaimed steel well before the industry took its current export-facing shape. That the raw material is scrap leaf-spring steel rather than purchased stock is also a form of materials reuse that predates any formal recycling programme — decommissioned vehicle parts given a second working life as a tool built to last a generation.

Location

Municipality of Sikatuna, Bohol. Sikatuna is in central Bohol, approximately 25–30 km from Tagbilaran City, and is accessible via the road connecting Tagbilaran to Corella and inland Bohol.

Detailed local routes and trail directions are best verified with local guides or municipal tourism offices on arrival.

Getting There

From Tagbilaran City, take a jeepney or bus toward Sikatuna (approximately 30–45 minutes). The workshop location within Sikatuna requires local inquiry or advance arrangement with Bohol Blades.

Detailed local routes and trail directions are best verified with local guides or municipal tourism offices on arrival.

Practical Info

• Products: knives, utility blades, edged weapons
• Materials: Japanese leaf spring steel, Philippine rosewood or carabao horn handles, hardwood sheaths with brass/bronze fittings
• Lead time: up to 30 days per piece (custom orders)
• Export market: international clients
• Visit format: (verify details locally)

What to Expect

A visit to the Sikatuna blacksmith industry is primarily an industrial tourism experience — observing traditional hand-forging techniques in a working workshop. The process of shaping reclaimed leaf spring steel into finished blades by hand, using forge, hammer, and grinder, is a craft with few remaining practitioners in the province.

Finished products can be purchased directly. Custom orders are accepted but require lead time. The blades are functional tools rather than decorative pieces — the quality lies in the edge geometry and the finish, not in ornamentation.

Notes

• Advance contact is recommended before visiting; the workshop is a working production site, not a permanent showroom
• Products are exported internationally — confirm customs and airline carry-on regulations before purchasing edged items
• The broader Sikatuna municipality also has the hanging coffins site and tarsier conservation area for a combined itinerary