Does The Moro Kris Exhibit True Pamor

A. G. Maisey · 17th March 2008, 06:29 AM

The "sandwich" construction that is most often found in Indonesian/Malay keris is only one of several methods that can be used to give the blade a steel edge. Sometimes the edge is welded around the perimeter of the blade, the body of the blade being solid pamor construction.

Pamor means "mixed".

It can be, and most often is, mixed ferric material, in older keris.

I am not a student of the Moro style keris, but I own now, and have owned in the past, examples of the Moro style keris. Some of these keris have had blades that were of pattern welded construction. There is no doubt in my mind that if these blades were Javanese blades, rather than Moro blades, they would be considered by Javanese people to have pamor blades.

As to whether blades from other cultures and made of a mixture of materials can legitimately be called "pamor" blades, yes, of course they can. They are not Javanese, or Indonesian blades, but they are of mixed materials, as already noted, "pamor" means "mixed". Show mechanical damascus to a Javanese person who has never seen or heard of it, and he has no other word than "pamor" to give to it.Yes, we have other words, and perhaps our exposure is more broad, so we differentiate between one type of mixed material blade and another, and call them mechanical damascus, pattern welded, pamor, or whatever, often dependent upon the country of origin, rather than the nature of the material, but to a Javanese person, that mixed material blade will be a pamor blade.

17th March 2008, 06:29 AM	#5
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,056	The "sandwich" construction that is most often found in Indonesian/Malay keris is only one of several methods that can be used to give the blade a steel edge. Sometimes the edge is welded around the perimeter of the blade, the body of the blade being solid pamor construction. Pamor means "mixed". It can be, and most often is, mixed ferric material, in older keris. I am not a student of the Moro style keris, but I own now, and have owned in the past, examples of the Moro style keris. Some of these keris have had blades that were of pattern welded construction. There is no doubt in my mind that if these blades were Javanese blades, rather than Moro blades, they would be considered by Javanese people to have pamor blades. As to whether blades from other cultures and made of a mixture of materials can legitimately be called "pamor" blades, yes, of course they can. They are not Javanese, or Indonesian blades, but they are of mixed materials, as already noted, "pamor" means "mixed". Show mechanical damascus to a Javanese person who has never seen or heard of it, and he has no other word than "pamor" to give to it.Yes, we have other words, and perhaps our exposure is more broad, so we differentiate between one type of mixed material blade and another, and call them mechanical damascus, pattern welded, pamor, or whatever, often dependent upon the country of origin, rather than the nature of the material, but to a Javanese person, that mixed material blade will be a pamor blade.