eBay MORO KRIS WOOTZ??

[Mare Rosu]

Rick
I did not find any closeups of the blade but I did find
Mr. David Broadwell
(David) the maker, along with Al Pendray of the Kris and I have asked him to join into this discussion of his Kris.
Now that the forum is back up and running (Thanks Dr. Lee!)
So all you forum folks please welcome David, when he signs in, and ask away about the kris.

[nechesh]

I would agree that this is indeed a pretty blade, but for $8000 i could buy myself one hell of a nice kris/keris.

[Rick]

Originally Posted by nechesh

I would agree that this is indeed a pretty blade, but for $8000 i could buy myself one hell of a nice kris/keris.

This begs the question , what constitutes a good eight thousand dollar keris ?

[Double Edge]

I appreciate the introduction, Gene. Yes, the wootz and jade kris is mine, made for a collector a few years ago. This was my second sword, the first being a boarding cutlass. Both swords were made as interpretive art pieces, not as historical reproductions.
As Gene said, this blade is made from Al Pendray's wootz. Al forged the blade to shape with all its hills and valleys, and forged in the raised center ridge. Al is unusually skilled with his hammer and I received a pretty clean billet. I fitted the kris with bronze trim and a British Columbian nephrite jade handle. The steel does have a pattern, but like most wootz it takes some tricks with a camera to get the pattern to show easily. Pattern welded is a breeze to photograph compared to wootz! Unfortunately I do not have any more pictures of this sword including close ups showing the pattern.
The man who commissioned this sword grew up in Indonesia and obviously likes the kris. He requested my style of sculpting and the wootz over a pattern welded "damascus" steel. That's why you see more of an Art Nouveau interpretation rather than a traditional look.
Gene had asked about etching the wootz. I used a diluted ferric chloride solution. It actually took three etchings to get it right, and I had to refinish and polish the blade each time. Wootz is etched by a quick wiping of the etchant followed by a rinse and oiling. I finally got my wife out in the yard with a garden hose and I would wipe on the etchant and she would hose down the blade. You can't let the ferric stay on the steel more than a few seconds or you loose the crystiline carbide structure that makes the pattern. Wootz takes a surface finish, rather than the topographical etch more commonly used on pattern welded steels.
If there are more questions about this or any other knife or sword I've made, ask away.

David

[Andrew]

Welcome to the forum, David! It's great to have another cutler posting here.

Your keris is beautiful, as are the other items on your website. In fact, I just spent a fair bit of time enjoying that site!

Hope to hear from you often.

[Battara]

David, your work is impressive. I bow in your presence.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Battara

David, your work is impressive. I bow in your presence.

And you, sir, are too modest.

(BTW, got your emails.)