Poisoned keris blade

[David]

Originally Posted by kronckew

i've seen a video of a Filipino blacksmith 'poisoning' a blade with dead venomous spider mash. he then heated the blade red hot and hardened/quenched and tempered it. i'm fairly sure no viable poison, if there ever was any, remained. purely symbolic/magical at that point.

I have encountered legends of poison keris blades from time to time, but like many such stories there never seems to be anything substantial behind them to back them up.
What happens in the Philippines bears no reference to Sumatran keris blades. Certainly there are numerous cultures around the world who do indeed employ poisons on their weapons either for warfare or hunting. AFAIK it is not a legitimate part of any keris bearing cultures. The stories may have arisen from some misapprehension of the purpose and use of arsenic in staining blades.
As for our Filipino smith, i would agree that after that heating and quenching process no viable poison would remain on that blade anyway.