Tactical keris

[A. G. Maisey]

Art is in the eye of the beholder.

I personally think this is an enormously ugly piece of metal, but having been tied up with the custom knifemaking movement in Australia some years ago, I can understand how some people would consider this to be a wonderful representation of skill.

Western makers who attempt the keris form nearly always get it wrong because they do not understand what they are supposed to achieve. The first keris that I made, I made in Australia, after being involved with keris for better than 25 years, and before I was accepted by Empu Suparman as his pupil.

I did not understand what I was supposed to achieve. I made something that vaguely resembled a keris, but was lacking in many elements.

Here are some pics of what the Sheffield makers Joseph Beal, and Joseph Rogers thought a keris should look like.

None of these things are keris, but knowing they exist helps us to come a little closer to an understanding of just what a keris is.