Lovely Old Barung With Twistcore

[kai]

Hello Phil,

I agree. The pattern on each side does reveal a twisted structure, but to be twist-CORE, this structure would have to go the entire thickness of the blade, with the edges being "stack"-welded to the cutting and dorsal sides. In this case, the core is what protrudes as the cutting- and back-edges and is laminated in sandwich fashion between the twist-pattern layers on each face.

There are Moro keris blades that show all the signs of being a twist-core construction, the format bearing considerable similarity, in principle, to sword-blades of Anglo-Saxon and Nordic Europe during the early Middle Ages.

The origin of the word twistcore may be based on a solid piece of "twist" - however, I don't think the definition needs to be that strict! Otherwise, there would be no twistcore barrels!

The most important features seem to be:
1. forged from twisted bars
2. exposure of the core of the "twist" by removal of the surface.

If anything, symmetrically applying the forged twisted bars to a sandwich construction needs even more skill IMVHO...

Regards,
Kai