[David]

For me personally it is absolutely essential to spend a good deal of time attempting to understand the culture which the keris emerges from if one is to understand anything about the keris. Of course it is a difficult task and i do not feel that i have been at all fully successful in my studies, but the keris is meaningless in a vacuum as anything beyond a curious art object. What's problematic is that we must try to understand that Indonesia is a multi-cultural society so understanding varies from place to place and era to era. What's more, even in a single location such as Jawa the understanding and attitudes of the keris has changed over the centuries and through those changes a mingling of traditions has occurred. Kejawen or Kebatinan traditions, for instance, have assimilated outside influences over the years, adding bits and pieces of Islamic and Hindu thought to it's practice. Changes in keris understanding undoubtably took place as the Mojophahit kingdom was supplanted by an Islamic empire. In fact, with every shift of power i am sure came certain changes in the understanding of the keris and it's role in the culture and society.
Frankly, what i am least interested in when it come to keris is the actual mechanical process involved in it's creation. Of course i do seek some basic knowledge on the subject, but i don't see it as a key to understanding. One does need to develop an idea of what constitutes a "good" keris and keep in mind that ultimately the keris is a keraton art that has certain standards of excellence to be held to and various pakems which must be met to qualify for that level of keris art. Though i must admit that i am just as interested and enamored by keris made to meet the needs of the common people. The bottom line for me is similar to what Jussi had to say before about "cadence". Certainly a keris must speak to me if it is to join my family of blades. And i do consider my keris to be my children of sorts. It must, as Jussi puts it, have a kind of "cadence". For me that can just as easily be a village made blade as one from a keraton empu. There are different standards for evaluating both. Some village made keris may not have the technical excellence of form as some keraton keris, but they might appeal to me as art much in the same way that a painting by some Art Naiveté artist such as Rousseau can be seen a masterpiece.
I also do not find the study of keris mythology and legend to be fruitless in the understanding the keris. These myths and legends arise from the culture for reasons and reflect certain attitudes of that culture and it's people. It is important for one to understand that the "truth" in these legends is not as important as understanding that it may be what the people believe even if there is no real fact in them.