The Purpose of Keris Panjang

[A. G. Maisey]

When a pamor blade is made it is usually made of a very thin steel core and with a plate of pamor material welded to each face of the steel core.

If deep fullers & other carving is added to the blade it will cut through the pamor plates and expose the plain material of the core, thus losing the enhancement of pamor.

We see pretty much the same thing with Javanese & Balinese blades, it comes down to whether we want a blade with pamor or a blade with carved enhancements.

There is a way of making a blade where we can have our cake & eat it too, & that is to make the entire central body of the blade of pamor material, & then weld an edge into this pamor, but this method of construction is very seldom encountered, & I have not seen a blade made in this way that is younger than a couple of hundred years old.

The word "kapit" is Malay, it means to support on each side. My understanding of this word when applied to keris is that it refers to a blade that has had part of the blade rivetted to the other part of the blade. However, I guess that it could also apply to a pamor blade, because the core of a pamor blade is supported on either side by the pamor material.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

When a pamor blade is made it is usually made of a very thin steel core and with a plate of pamor material welded to each face of the steel core.

If deep fullers & other carving is added to the blade it will cut through the pamor plates and expose the plain material of the core, thus losing the enhancement of pamor.

Thank you Alan, sounds logical!

Regards,
Detlef

[A. G. Maisey]

Not just logical Detlef, actual as well:-

think of a chocolate cake

nice, thick, rich, moist choccy cake

tastes great

now Grandma slaps thick, high qual Belgium chocolate icing onto it

she adds the thick, freshly whipped cream

then some maraschino cherries

looks fantastic

blows away the diet with one slice

little Teddy sees that cake

Little Teddy loves choccy icing

and cream, and cherries

Little Teddy got no weight problem

he takes a spoon to Grandma's choccy masterpiece and removes all that enhancement

what everybody else is left with is unenhanced chocolate cake

same as keris:- scrape off the pamor, what you got is plain old garden quality steel.

[Pendita65]

The Fountain of Knowledge has spoken, and yes a good choclate cake hmm could do with a slice now.

Regards, Martin

[milandro]

indeed, as I suspected, there was a reason set in the forging methods.

Again then the question arises on the weapon being made to be actually used as a weapon ( the fuller make the weapon lighter and the consequent risers make it more robust to hitting other blades) . If the only purpose was to create a decoration item and there is a lot of decoration content (let alone a symbolic one) in a keris with a pamor along such a long blade, why would they have gone through the forging process which is highly suited to create a weapon apt to be used in combat against another blade?

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Not just logical Detlef, actual as well:-

think of a chocolate cake

nice, thick, rich, moist choccy cake

tastes great

now Grandma slaps thick, high qual Belgium chocolate icing onto it

she adds the thick, freshly whipped cream

then some maraschino cherries

looks fantastic

blows away the diet with one slice

little Teddy sees that cake

Little Teddy loves choccy icing

and cream, and cherries

Little Teddy got no weight problem

he takes a spoon to Grandma's choccy masterpiece and removes all that enhancement

what everybody else is left with is unenhanced chocolate cake

same as keris:- scrape off the pamor, what you got is plain old garden quality steel.

[A. G. Maisey]

Milandro, the reason is not really in the forging of the blade, it is in the carving of the blade.

Just about all the features you see in a blade are carved in.

Everybody unfamiliar with the process always thinks in terms of forging, but it is the cold work that gives the keris its features and that uses time.


I have made a few keris using traditional Javanese methods, that means no electric tools, only the traditional tools that were in use until very recently when makers began to use angle grinders, and die grinders so forth.

Working by myself with no striker, I was able to make the forging for a keris blade using pamor wos wutah in about 4 days --- using a striker cuts that time in half --- but to carve the blade, a simple straight blade, tilam upih or similar would take me around 10 to 12 days, something like a sinom robyong would take 14 to 16 days.

[oariff]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Not just logical Detlef, actual as well:-

think of a chocolate cake

nice, thick, rich, moist choccy cake

tastes great

now Grandma slaps thick, high qual Belgium chocolate icing onto it

she adds the thick, freshly whipped cream

then some maraschino cherries

looks fantastic

blows away the diet with one slice

little Teddy sees that cake

Little Teddy loves choccy icing

and cream, and cherries

Little Teddy got no weight problem

he takes a spoon to Grandma's choccy masterpiece and removes all that enhancement

what everybody else is left with is unenhanced chocolate cake

same as keris:- scrape off the pamor, what you got is plain old garden quality steel.

Hi Alan,

Now would this blade be pamor or a blade that went wrong?

From Peninsular Malaysia perhaps?

Length: 56 cm from Tip to base of Ganja.

Cheers.