Moro Twistcores
 

Where did the moro twisted blade pattern originate?

Bill,

Please share some close ups of the twistcore pattern also.
Don't you suspect that it's influenced by the Indonesian pamor?

Michael

Bill, I'd guess three of those from Sulu and two from central Mindanao - so that's no help, but it does show that it wasn't characteristic of one particular locale. The question would be from those of you that are lucky enough to have several of these (and Bill it looks like you have more than your share ;) ) can we determine by dating if it spread North of South. Unfortunately Jolo and Cotabato were both major trading ports during the time most these were probably manufactured.

Don't have a thing to add, except to say these are works of art!!

Yes, I'd guess that pamor as a concept spread from Indonesia along with a slow diaspora of Madurese/Javanese smiths and their descendants to the far corners of the area .

Bump for more ideas as to origin of twistcores.

A 'Natural' Outgrowth of Piled Structures
 

What has constantly surprised me is just how widespread over time and many cultures the use of twist-core pattern welding actually is. At one time I believed that there must be some sort of common thread of cascading influence, but now I believe that it 'naturally' arises out of the material and how it must be worked at a small forge. That is, it arose from the use of a 'piled' structure of multiple rods to build a blade - either for differential properties (soft core, hard edge) or just to get a large enough billet - when, at some point, a rod with contrasting components or prominent grain would get twisted and patterns were seen at final polish and ultimately manipulated to arrive at the same end. So, the very same techniques and patterns may be seen at the core of a Celtic (less twisting) or Migration period (zenith of style) or Viking Age sword in Europe as would later show up in Chinese swords and Ottoman arms and Moro arms.

Very nice examples, by the way; thank you for sharing them. So, for what it is worth, I believe the Moro smiths 'discovered' this all on their own as a natural consequence of building blades from smaller components. Some pictures of the European manifestations of the technique and more details are included in The Serpent in the Sword.

Thank you, Lee, for the well thought out and very pertinent reply.