I PERSONALLY CONSIDER THE MORO KERIS TO BE A PATTEREN WELDED BLADE IN SOME INSTANCES AND MORE OFTEN WHAT USED TO BE REFERED TO AS A WATERED STEEL BLADE. I AM NOT A METAL WORKER OR KNIFE MAKER BUT MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT.
1. WATERED STEEL BLADE PATTERN IS A RESULT OF THE NATURAL FOLDING OF THE METAL TO FORM THE BLADE WITH NO ATTEMPT TO MAKE A PATTERN.
2. PATTERENED WELDED BLADES HAVE A PRE-DETERMINED PATTEREN THAT IS INTENTIONALLY MADE USING SPECIFIC FOLDING TECKNIQUE. THESE PATTERENED PARTS ARE THEN APPLIED TO A CORE OR USED TO MAKE THE BLADE.
BOTH OF THESE TECKNIQUES OCCUR IN MORO WEAPONS OF ALL SORTS BUT THE PATTEREN WELDED BLADES ARE USUALLY FOUND IN THE KERIS AND SPEARS BUT DO OCCASIONALLY APPEAR IN OTHER FORMS OF MORO WEAPON.
THE INDONESIAN KERIS USUALLY HAS THE PARMOR WHICH IS ALSO THE SAME GENERAL TECKNIQUE AS PATTEREN WELDING BUT THE END RESULT IS QUITE A BIT DIFFERENT. THE FINISH OF THE KERIS IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM MORO WEAPONS ONE HAS A VERY ROUGH TEXTURE WHICH CAN BE FELT AS WELL AS SEEN, THE OTHER CAN BE SEEN BUT NOT FELT. KERIS FROM BALI BEING AN EXCEPTION, AS THEY ARE OFTEN FINISHED WITH A SMOOTH BLADE SURFACE THEY COME CLOSER TO THE MORO BLADES.
INDONESIAN KERIS HAVE A WIDE VARIETY OF PARMOR (PATTERNS) THAT HAVE MANY DIFFERENT MEANINGS, POWERS AND PROPERTIES BEYOND JUST LOOKING GOOD. TO MY KNOWLEGE MORO SWORDS WITH PATTERNS HAVE LOST ANY MEANING THEY MIGHT HAVE HAD ORIGINALLY IN THE PAST.
PARMOR PATTERNS ARE NOT AS APPARENT ON MALAYSIAN BLADES BUT THEY DO HAVE THE ROUGH FINISH BUT I DO NOT KNOW THE REASON?
THESE ARE JUST MY OBSERVATIONS ,OPINIONS AND ONLY THAT, AS I AM DEFINITELY NOT AN EXPERT IN THIS FIELD.
SO I VOTE MORO WEAPONS DO NOT EXHIBIT WHAT I CONSIDER PARMOR UNLESS A MORO HAPPENS TO OWN A TRADITIONAL KERIS MADE IN THE INDONESIAN WAY.
