Meteoric iron used for keris's vs. for Indian weapons

[Rick]

Originally Posted by fearn

I'm trying to remember where I read this: it was one of the contemporary knife catalogs, and the name escapes me at the moment (argh! I'll edit it in when I remember it!)

This is a sideline to the "meteoric iron" thread, but it is about the high nickel iron used to create pamor. Apparently, the volcanoes on Java cough out nodules of high-nickel iron, and that is what is (was) used for most keris blades, presumably along with low-nickel iron from other sources.

Apparently, westerners used to think that high-nickel iron only came from meteorites, and so among westerners, the story was that the pamor iron all came from meteoric iron.

This doesn't contradict the idea that some keris and other blades were made from meteorites. It simply says that most pamor blades have a strictly terrestrial origin, and Indonesia isn't a magnet for meteoric bombardment.

F

Driven to Google yet again .

Here's a page that discusses the composition of the magma that is released by Mt Merapi in Jawa :
http://www.ipgp.jussieu.fr/~beaudu/vsi/merview.html
And another locating the volcanos in the archipelago .
http://www.volcanolive.com/indonesia3.html
Last , a cross section , lots of Iron in the earth's core .
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/hazard/...omposition.gif

[BSMStar]

Thank you Rick!

Awesome links! But in the geochemistry, I missed any nickel bearing mineralogy... just your typical/normal Basaltic, Andesitic and Pyroclastic associated minerals.

I recall reading an article that named the location where the "poor" quality nickel-iron was being imported from, and it included the import of nickel, which didn't work out too well. I wish I could refer to it. Has anyone else seen it?

[nechesh]

Wayne, just a stickler point, pamor Prambanan was really introduced at the beginning of the 1800s.
I'm not sure about nickle/iron nodules from Jawa volcanos, but it was always my understanding that much of the nickleous pamor used in Jawa was imported from other islands, like pamor luwu.
Oh, and Wayne, if your wife is really gonna make you stop collecting, don't forget what i said about that nice Bali keris of yours.

[BSMStar]

Well nechesh,

Yea, its true she would like me to stop.... I said I would stop, if she would stop buying all those dresses, shoes and stuff she really doesn't need (or wear very often - it ends up sitting in the closet, you know what I mean).

She came home from "shopping" and just could not pass up another one of those bargins!

Well, some how another Keris just happened to show up (and a Keris stand too? now how did that happen??? )

But back to the subject....

[BSMStar]

Pamor Luwu rings a bell.... can you say a little more about it?

[Jens Nordlunde]

I am afraid the we are back discussing kerises more than what I started - maybe I should not have started this thread.

Jens

[nechesh]

Well Jens, i'm afraid threads tend to have a mind of their own. If you reread you opening post you are wondering about keris. People tend (hopefully) to talk about what they know or are interested in and since i know very little about Indian weapons i'm afraid info on keris is all i have to add to this thread.
To give you my answer to your final question in that first post, i think the reason you hear less about meteoric ore in Indian weapons than Indonesian is that inspite of the quoted passage Indian smiths still did less of it than Indonesian empus.
Wayne, pamor luwu came from Sulawesi. There is abit more about it and pamor in general on this site:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/taman.sari/k...ilah/pamor.htm