West Sumba knife

[naturalist]

Originally Posted by JeffS

Would the forging flaw on the blade visible in the photo below indicate layered construction? Also, I was surprised that the spine does not taper until it almost reaches the point. This is much more common in blades made by stock removal.

In the rural villages in Indonesia, in regards to utilizing scrap metals, people believe that how the initial metal being used has "value" for the blades made from the scrap metals. Also the given condition of "best scrap metals" usually won't be removed totally after the blades finished.

The first, for example, is on chainsaw bar, the bar that frequently used for cut trees in the forest in some part of Indonesia valued more than a brand new bar because all of sap/resin/oil from the trees may give extra "power" to the blades that made from the chain saw bar.

Second, bearing is known as one of the best scrap metals in rural areas, the notch usually won't be removed during the forging. I am not sure if the "forging flaw" in this blade is really a flaw or the material of the blade is from bearing.