Robotic Kris

[Spunjer]

Originally Posted by delor

Hello Spunjer,
I am not sure the center panel is a separate piece... looking at the close-up photos, I can't tell whether the line is a welding line or is an engraved one for brass inlay, just the same as for the stars.
By the way, the silver plate might hide the welding of the tang onto the blade...

i beg to differ, delor. it's hard to capture in photos, but the color tone of center panel is more obvious in real life. another hint that i would like to share is, by using a magnifying glass on the asterisk socket (missing a filling), the separation line can e seen, albeit faintly.
i do think you might be spot on about the silver plate hiding the weld joints.

[Gustav]

It seems to me, this could be a possibility to explain the different fullers, the slightly curved blade and also the probably reshaped tip. Accidentaly also some of the decorations at the base of the blade are similar.

A couple of links to similar blades:

http://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/...70.1%2F%207745

http://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/...70.1%2F%209197

[Gustav]

And the big minus of my "theory": in this case the narrower fuller should be on the other side... Neverthless I suppose, the original tip could have been some kind of asymetrical regarding those fifferent fullers.

[Spunjer]

hmmm, good point gustav. even if the blade has not been reshaped, it is indeed odd to see the narrower fuller being closer to the inner blade.

btw, thank you for the link! some very unusual and one of a kind krises on that album! seems to have a few of the Robot Kris variety on there as well...

http://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/...%2F%204151%20A

[kai]

Hello Ron & Gustav,

even if the blade has not been reshaped, it is indeed odd to see the narrower fuller being closer to the inner blade.

If I recall correctly those kris with narrow, asymmetric fuller that I've seen, it is generally placed along the lower (working) edge. Indeed somewhat counter-intuitive and I've failed so far to come up with a functional reason (or convincing working hypothesis) for this configuration.

Regards,
Kai

[Spunjer]

Originally Posted by kai

Hello Ron & Gustav,


If I recall correctly those kris with narrow, asymmetric fuller that I've seen, it is generally placed along the lower (working) edge. Indeed somewhat counter-intuitive and I've failed so far to come up with a functional reason (or convincing working hypothesis) for this configuration.

Regards,
Kai

good observation, kai! even on some symmetrical blades, they have the same type of configuration. odd, really...

http://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/...70.1%2F%201431