[ruiter58]

I found the following information in the “Klewang, Catalogue of the Dutch Army Museum” by J.P.Puype and R.J. de Stűrler Boekwijt. (I think this Catalogue/Book is a must for any European klewang collector)
Klewang catalogue nr.78 is a 99,9 % similar klewang. As the catalogue is bi-lingual (Dutch and English) I will just type over the information given.
Quote: “Klewang made for the Indonesian Army, or T.N.I., probably in or after 1946. Owing to their improvised appearance and often slipshod engineering quality, most early klewangs T.N.I. are suspected to have been handmade under rather primitive circumstances. The hilt basket of this example has been manually sawn from a sheet-steel plate and blade was manufactured by grinding down, again by hand, the leaf-spring of an automobile. The scabbard, of flexible leather, and with a brass chape with two drainage holes at the front, was probably made by the Indonesians in it entirety. The grip scales and their rivets were probably taken from a N.E.I. Marechaussee sword M1911. The top of the guard is stamped ‘PolTa No 58’ which may mean ‘Polisi Tentara’ i.e. Army Police or MP. The blade bears on the reverse an indigenous maker’s mark consisting of a hammer over an anvil with the letters ‘P B’ underneath, the entire logo being surrounded by a halo. The letters possibly stand for ‘Pabrik Industri Angkatan Darat’ or, literally translated ‘Industrial Factory of the Army’ a rather grand name for what probably was a clandestine workshop in what were still the Dutch colonies.” Unquote

Underneath a picture of the hilt basket.
Quote: “Note the hand-sawn and hand-beaten, sheet iron hilt basket” Unquote

As for the 99,9 % => My example is missing the chape and both the grip scales and rivets are not from the M1911. I think that, when this klewang was made, the supply of spare parts was already completely used.
As I stated in my previous post, at first glance you can see it is much more coarser and way less “finished and smoothed” than f.i. the Hembrug M1911. But the Hembrug is mass produced on machines that produced constant (high) quality blades and all other parts, put together by highly experienced and skilled workers and inspected before delivery by specialized inspectors.

Now, realizing the klewang is completely handmade, starting with the spring-leaf of an automobile and a piece of sheet-iron, I can only take of my hat in respect for the manufacturers and their skills and say that I am the proud owner.

We also have even more search options now to find anything about the Hammer and Anvil maker mark history