Shadow Keris

A. G. Maisey · 28th November 2010, 09:57 PM

Quote:-

In my opinion, other than being more practical for long term storage-providing better resistance to rust, a blade without pamor didn't benefit from the process.

Tunggalametung, I guess you mean the process of lamination, ie, the repeated folding and welding of material ?

In the original keris of Jawa, this was not an option, it was a requisite part of the process of making a keris.

The material available was of various types and various qualities, so in order to produce material that was of adequate quality for use as a weapon, it was necessary to weld the small available pieces together, and then repeatedly fold and weld to remove the impurities. This repeated folding and welding created a pattern in the material, which eventually came to be recognised as an indicator of a weapon's integrity, and as a consequence was demanded by the paying customers. This was the birth of pamor.

To provide a harder edge than could be obtained from the iron used in the pamor material, a thin sliver of steel was inserted between the plates of pamor. Steel is very expensive to produce by the old technologies.

When higher quality material became available in areas outside of Jawa and Bali, and where the beliefs in pamor had not taken root, blades were produced from all steel.

If a piece of material was large enough,and of adequate quality, it was not necessary to amalgamate pieces of material by folding and welding, but if a large piece of material could not be obtained, then the folding and welding process was necessary, however, the material being brought together into one large piece was steel, and of much higher quality than the various ferric materials used in earlier times. This steel was obtained from imported commercial goods, such as tools imported from China, and tools and machinery from Europe. Much of the production of these keris lacking pamor appears to have been carried out by Chinese smiths, whose work was reputed to be of very high quality.

In the context of keris form, "garap" means "workmanship". In Bahasa Indonesia a synonym is "pembuatan". Maybe this same word is valid in Malay, I don't know.

28th November 2010, 09:57 PM	#33
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,049	Quote:- In my opinion, other than being more practical for long term storage-providing better resistance to rust, a blade without pamor didn't benefit from the process. Tunggalametung, I guess you mean the process of lamination, ie, the repeated folding and welding of material ? In the original keris of Jawa, this was not an option, it was a requisite part of the process of making a keris. The material available was of various types and various qualities, so in order to produce material that was of adequate quality for use as a weapon, it was necessary to weld the small available pieces together, and then repeatedly fold and weld to remove the impurities. This repeated folding and welding created a pattern in the material, which eventually came to be recognised as an indicator of a weapon's integrity, and as a consequence was demanded by the paying customers. This was the birth of pamor. To provide a harder edge than could be obtained from the iron used in the pamor material, a thin sliver of steel was inserted between the plates of pamor. Steel is very expensive to produce by the old technologies. When higher quality material became available in areas outside of Jawa and Bali, and where the beliefs in pamor had not taken root, blades were produced from all steel. If a piece of material was large enough,and of adequate quality, it was not necessary to amalgamate pieces of material by folding and welding, but if a large piece of material could not be obtained, then the folding and welding process was necessary, however, the material being brought together into one large piece was steel, and of much higher quality than the various ferric materials used in earlier times. This steel was obtained from imported commercial goods, such as tools imported from China, and tools and machinery from Europe. Much of the production of these keris lacking pamor appears to have been carried out by Chinese smiths, whose work was reputed to be of very high quality. In the context of keris form, "garap" means "workmanship". In Bahasa Indonesia a synonym is "pembuatan". Maybe this same word is valid in Malay, I don't know.