Allure of the Core

[mross]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Rick, I seem to recall reading somewhere that one of the major indicators of an early blade was its size:- smaller blades, sometimes about the same as a Bali blade size were supposedly older.

As to pamor, this blade looks like it has a steel core.

If this is so, I would certainly be happy in calling the pattern welded outer skin of the blade "pamor".

Even if it did not have a core, I feel that the name "pamor" is still OK, as the word has the idea of "mix" inherent in it, and this material is definitely mixed.

Alan,
Yes, your read correctly. I have several of the archaic style blades. They almost seem like toys they are so small. In fact I have a large budik that is the same size if not a bit bigger then the whole sword, and a keris that comes real close. I believe a real short history is the keris evolving into the archaic style kris, then these became progressively bigger as they evolved into the current weapon we call a kris.