The iron makes the keris blade, but the keris is a 'whole package' thing. The dress is as important as the blade.
Just like people. While Chinese, Japanese and Koreans are of extremely similar genetic makeup, its the 'cultural presentation' that makes one Chinese, Japanese or Korean. In fact, some Chinese have even crossed over to become Malay in my part of the world (Southeast Asia). They have a term for it "masuk Melayu". The same applies to Arabs and Indians who have, over the centuries, become integrated into the Malay identity and call themselves Malays.
Similarly, a keris blade (tilam upih for example) dressed in a Riau keris would be considered a Riau keris whereas the same blade dressed in a ladrangan Solo would be a Solonese keris.
The legendary Malay hero Hang Tuah went to Java in search of a keris. He found one -- Taming Sari -- and brought it back to Peninsula Malaysia. He dressed it in local sheath/handle styles as you can imagine he would not be caught dead wearing it with a Javanese ladrangan sheath in the Malay world. What is Taming Sari then? A Malay keris, as my fellow Malay friends would say.
