[A. G. Maisey]

Gavin, since the middle of the 18th century, the keris in Jawa has been much like the small sword was in England & Europe, this from Raffles.

However, even through until today, high quality Jawa keris will have a very robust tang. The needle thin tang that we sometimes see on Jawa keris is usually a product of time & erosion, if we look at the place where the tang emerges from the gonjo, that will give a far better idea of the original thickness of the tang.

As for "playing with opponents", well, the gentleman to whom I referred in my previous post was rather scathing of the idea of fighting or duelling with a knife, he was of the opinion that if you needed to actually fight, it indicated that you had improperly prepared, firstly, no matter how good you might be, you would very likely get cut yourself, secondly, in his opinion, the well planned attack should see the end of any combat before it even started, ideally from behind, a single blow, or as you walk past, again, a single blow.

To that man, getting involved in actual fighting was amateurish & stupid, if you were a professional you did not give the opponent the opportunity to strike you, with knife, or with any other part of his body.