The pattern on this blade was made with a process of battery acid etching, and soil burying. Ive gone through a number of touristy and fake weapons, on whcih this has been done. A shame, as many had good hardened blades, on the thin side, but functional enough. But just the detail the guys making these things think collectors are looking for.
As for wootz, Ive heard (now Im not big on metallurgy, and its been years since Ive read much), that once its heated above a certain temp the pattern is permanently lost. However, to forge at the lower temps in which to keep the pattern, one has a tight temp range, in which you can either go to cool and the blade becomes brittle and breaks during forging, or to hot and the pattern is lost. Given this tight range of temperature. I could easily see a Panday, not knowing exactly what kind of steel it is, and forging it as he's forged a hundred other kris, and losing the pattern with the hotter temp. Or on the flip side, thinking the tight temp range to achieve the pattern, not worth the effort when pattern welding is more understood. Or on the flip side of that, perhaps there was ceremonial/talismanic beliefs making one stay with traditional steels. Who knows. But on the flip side, when looking at trading patterns, why werent there more wootz Chinese blades, or wootz Dhas, etc... Two areas closer to India. Particularly for steel, Ive seen chinese pots, European stock, and local Malay/Indo sources cited in various manifests. While British would bring in Indian made cloth, I havent seen records of Indian made steel. How common was wootz in Britain?
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