Meteorite again

A. G. Maisey · 22nd July 2019, 05:40 AM

Seerp, have you ever worked with meteoritic material?

1Kg put into the first weld does not equal 1Kg after the material has been washed, to wash the material I used, it needed around 10 welds. Most of that meteorite finished up as scale on the floor of the forge.

Then in the case of the Prambanan meteorite there was one hell of a lot of experimentation went on before the smiths worked out how to handle it.

The technology was a side blown charcoal forge, or a ground forge, blown by ububan. Have you ever used one of these? My guess is that perhaps as much as half the attempts to produce usable material failed.

Then there are other factors such as restrictions placed on use, and the number of keris that one person could make in a lifetime.

The technique used in Central Jawa to weld meteoritic material, and other small pieces of pamor material ensures that the meteorite is not able to be identified as a separate entity after the first weld, right from the beginning it is mixed with the iron.

Calculations might be fun, but they bear no relationship to the end product.

I most respectfully suggest that your numbers might be just a little bit optimistic.

22nd July 2019, 05:40 AM	#1
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,992	Seerp, have you ever worked with meteoritic material? 1Kg put into the first weld does not equal 1Kg after the material has been washed, to wash the material I used, it needed around 10 welds. Most of that meteorite finished up as scale on the floor of the forge. Then in the case of the Prambanan meteorite there was one hell of a lot of experimentation went on before the smiths worked out how to handle it. The technology was a side blown charcoal forge, or a ground forge, blown by ububan. Have you ever used one of these? My guess is that perhaps as much as half the attempts to produce usable material failed. Then there are other factors such as restrictions placed on use, and the number of keris that one person could make in a lifetime. The technique used in Central Jawa to weld meteoritic material, and other small pieces of pamor material ensures that the meteorite is not able to be identified as a separate entity after the first weld, right from the beginning it is mixed with the iron. Calculations might be fun, but they bear no relationship to the end product. I most respectfully suggest that your numbers might be just a little bit optimistic.