keris jalak with rare pamor

A. G. Maisey · 26th September 2012, 10:55 PM

Thanks for the compliments Donny.

Actually I have a pretty long history in Jawa, beginning back in the 1960's. I have known Empu Pauzan Pusposukadgo since 1974, Empu Suparman Supowijoyo (Alm.) was my teacher from 1982 through until the time of his departure, I have passed knowledge that I have to other pandai keris in Indonesia. I have visited Solo most years since 1970 for a minimum of two months each year. One way and another I've got a lot of background in Indonesia.

I knew Jerzy Piaskowski from about 1988 and provided him with cultural background and material for analysis. I have lost contact with him now, and I am afraid that he has probably left us. If he is still with us he would be close to 100 years old. The paper that David mentions is only one of his analyses on keris technology, his most comprehensive was never completed but was published in part by the Japan Metals Institute.I don't think any of Jerzy's work is online anywhere, and probably the only way to get it is to go through a library network.

I myself have written on keris, but only very short papers that deal with the particular aspects that interest me. My interest is cultural and societal, rather than technological, but I do also have a good understanding of the technology. As for a book, it will never happen. Books cost money to write and produce. I have better things to do with my time and my money than write books.

As for selection of materials. There are a number of ways that a skilled smith can use to select material suitable for a tool or weapon. In very early Javanese iron technology it is probable that the indigenous smiths were using tools imported from mostly China to provide the material for weapons, in other words, they knew what they had before they started. However, there was some smelting of iron from beach sands carried out at least in Jawa, and possibly in other places. The material from these beach sands was not of particularly good quality, and it was mixed with the imported material in order to extend the quantity of the imported material This of course resulted in early pamor. A few years ago Dietrich Drescher did some very good work on the technology of indigenous iron smelting, I think there is a paper on his work and results in German.

One test for suitability of an iron for tool and weapon use is to bring it to high cherry, let it cool in air, place it in a vice and hit it with a hammer. If it is high phosphorus or contains some other impurities in excessive quantity it will snap. Apart from that, you can always tell if material is any good as soon as you start to work it. There is a lot of old iron around, material from 100 years ago and more, that is what we call "hot short". A lot of old cart rims are like this. If you try to forge it it breaks up like cottage cheese under the hammer, so you "wash" it (wasuh). You do this by forging out, folding back and welding it a number of times until the billet does not give off sparks at weld heat when it is hit. By that time the volume of material has reduced and the billet is quite dense with no pores or very small pores in the grain. When its like this you can go ahead an use it. In my experience you need to do this fold and weld process around 6 to 10 times before you get the material clean enough to use. Its a similar thing if you work meteoritic material, you need to wash it by folding and welding before its clean enough to use.

In fact, the quality of material used in a keris blade did not need to be particularly high, because a keris is primarily a thrusting weapon, it needs a sharp point, not a cutting edge that will stay sharp. An arit needs higher quality steel than a keris does, because it is a work tool that needs to stay sharp for several hours work without going back to the stone.

The traditional knife used to cut rice was the ani-ani. This is a tiny steel blade in a wooden mount that fits in the palm of the hand. In use it cannot be seen. The story is that this was used in order not to frighten the spirit of the rice. The fact is that to make a bigger blade of the necessary high quality steel would have been prohibitively expensive. This is called making a virtue of necessity.

I have heard rumours about the keris museum, but it will surprise me if it eventuates. The driving force behind the keris revival in Solo was Panembahan Harjonegoro (Go Tik Swan, Alm.), and he passed away a few years ago. Without somebody to drive this idea I doubt that it will come to fruition, simply because there is so much more that Solo needs to spend money on rather than keris. But I could be wrong, and I hope I am.

26th September 2012, 10:55 PM	#28
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,873	Thanks for the compliments Donny. Actually I have a pretty long history in Jawa, beginning back in the 1960's. I have known Empu Pauzan Pusposukadgo since 1974, Empu Suparman Supowijoyo (Alm.) was my teacher from 1982 through until the time of his departure, I have passed knowledge that I have to other pandai keris in Indonesia. I have visited Solo most years since 1970 for a minimum of two months each year. One way and another I've got a lot of background in Indonesia. I knew Jerzy Piaskowski from about 1988 and provided him with cultural background and material for analysis. I have lost contact with him now, and I am afraid that he has probably left us. If he is still with us he would be close to 100 years old. The paper that David mentions is only one of his analyses on keris technology, his most comprehensive was never completed but was published in part by the Japan Metals Institute.I don't think any of Jerzy's work is online anywhere, and probably the only way to get it is to go through a library network. I myself have written on keris, but only very short papers that deal with the particular aspects that interest me. My interest is cultural and societal, rather than technological, but I do also have a good understanding of the technology. As for a book, it will never happen. Books cost money to write and produce. I have better things to do with my time and my money than write books. As for selection of materials. There are a number of ways that a skilled smith can use to select material suitable for a tool or weapon. In very early Javanese iron technology it is probable that the indigenous smiths were using tools imported from mostly China to provide the material for weapons, in other words, they knew what they had before they started. However, there was some smelting of iron from beach sands carried out at least in Jawa, and possibly in other places. The material from these beach sands was not of particularly good quality, and it was mixed with the imported material in order to extend the quantity of the imported material This of course resulted in early pamor. A few years ago Dietrich Drescher did some very good work on the technology of indigenous iron smelting, I think there is a paper on his work and results in German. One test for suitability of an iron for tool and weapon use is to bring it to high cherry, let it cool in air, place it in a vice and hit it with a hammer. If it is high phosphorus or contains some other impurities in excessive quantity it will snap. Apart from that, you can always tell if material is any good as soon as you start to work it. There is a lot of old iron around, material from 100 years ago and more, that is what we call "hot short". A lot of old cart rims are like this. If you try to forge it it breaks up like cottage cheese under the hammer, so you "wash" it (wasuh). You do this by forging out, folding back and welding it a number of times until the billet does not give off sparks at weld heat when it is hit. By that time the volume of material has reduced and the billet is quite dense with no pores or very small pores in the grain. When its like this you can go ahead an use it. In my experience you need to do this fold and weld process around 6 to 10 times before you get the material clean enough to use. Its a similar thing if you work meteoritic material, you need to wash it by folding and welding before its clean enough to use. In fact, the quality of material used in a keris blade did not need to be particularly high, because a keris is primarily a thrusting weapon, it needs a sharp point, not a cutting edge that will stay sharp. An arit needs higher quality steel than a keris does, because it is a work tool that needs to stay sharp for several hours work without going back to the stone. The traditional knife used to cut rice was the ani-ani. This is a tiny steel blade in a wooden mount that fits in the palm of the hand. In use it cannot be seen. The story is that this was used in order not to frighten the spirit of the rice. The fact is that to make a bigger blade of the necessary high quality steel would have been prohibitively expensive. This is called making a virtue of necessity. I have heard rumours about the keris museum, but it will surprise me if it eventuates. The driving force behind the keris revival in Solo was Panembahan Harjonegoro (Go Tik Swan, Alm.), and he passed away a few years ago. Without somebody to drive this idea I doubt that it will come to fruition, simply because there is so much more that Solo needs to spend money on rather than keris. But I could be wrong, and I hope I am.