[A. G. Maisey]

Not at all an elaborate response Gustav, what I have written, I consider to be very simple & very basic. It took me a long time to write it, because my initial response was far too long and far too detailed, I needed to keep cutting & cutting to bring content down to a level that could be both easily understood and that would (hopefully) clear the fog that surrounds the creation of pattern welded motifs:- it is not just forge work, the real art, the real work in revealing those motifs is in the cold work.

In fact, now, & in the past, in Indonesia, although the mpu or pande keris might direct or oversee the hot work, that actual hot work is mostly left to a common smith, the work requiring the real skill is the cold work. I do hope that I have had some success in assisting a little understanding of how pattern welded motifs are created.

At the present time there is a lot of play acting going on in Indonesian keris work, what we call "sandiwara". From what I have read of reports on Javanese work in an earlier era, I think the same applied then too. Maybe it always has applied. In any case, one thing is certain:- what an outsider is permitted to see is a long way from the reality.

Smithing in general seems to have acquired some sort of mystical reputation, there has been a heightened interest in smithing work in recent years, but really, it is just work, & pretty hot, dirty heavy work at that.

I had never heard of Illerup Adal until I read what you have posted. I've followed up on your lead, & it does give a slightly altered perspective on the time frame, still within the long established parameters, but it certainly does appear likely that in later Roman times a good degree of control over pattern welded motifs had begun to appear. But I'm still not clear on whether this controlled work from Illerup Adal can be attributed to Roman workers or Danish workers. Still, this is not really material, the progression remains as previously understood, even if the parameters might be a little different.

The graphics you have posted are really quite informative, can you advise the place & time of manufacture to which they are attributed?