Question

[ganjawulung]

Originally Posted by Rick

This keris seems to be made from very high quality steel/iron and judging from the pitting on the blade it is old .
I noticed when giving it a Pineapple juice soak and subsequent cleaning that it 'rings' with a lovely voice.


I was wondering if this was purely a pamor or possibly a technique of blade construction .

Dear Rick,

It was possibly a technique of blade construction, to built a "certain philosophy"...

By touching or groping an old keris blade, we may have some categorization of good iron/steel used in the blade. Also, by "ringing" ("ninthing" the blade, or "thinthingan") the blade as you mentioned in your post. Besi or iron that has character of "nyerat" (fibrous) is only one of them. There are other kinds: "nyabak" (smooth, solid, greenish), "ngawat" (bigger fibrous than "nyerat"), "madas" or "madhas" (like rock), "nglempung" (as if clay), "ngglali" (melt of sweets, 'sticky'), "mrambut" (as hairs) etc... This characters emerged from the mixture of material used by the keris maker in the forging process.

Mixing or pairing the iron materials for forging a keris was also "philosophying" (in your language now, maybe "to make limiting belief of people"). This was written also by keris writers in the past. Besi "purasani" (kind of iron, believed from Persian origin) believed to have power to good livehood, good rank, good carrier... While besi "windu adi" for instance, believed to have power to make stronger, in unvisible term... So if you mix the two good characters of iron, then the blade will bring up glory, nobility to the owner etc...

Keris with "besi nyerat" (in the past) believed to have good "tuah" (good luck) to built "better self-confidence". Bring up characters of brave, audacious and courageous... Oops, am I a practitioner?

Ganjawulung