A keris for comment

[A. G. Maisey]

Not to my eye Marco, but you can call it this if you wish, the difference between ngulit semangko & wos wutah is only one of pamor layering, NS is fewer layers & broader layers, WW & its sub-variants are more layers and more narrow, for example, in classic Solo WW the bakalan will have a nominal 128 layers of contrasting material before the cold work, but for Solo NS those layers will be reduced to 64, or maybe only 32.

Obviously, NS is cheaper to make than WW.

I am talking nominal layers, not finished layers, because we lose layers of material during welding, forging & cold work.

[Rick]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

I am talking nominal layers, not finished layers, because we lose layers of material during welding, forging & cold work.

So 'nominal' is referring to the original forging of the 'blank' (I've forgotten the term for it) , which is later finished into a complete keris; correct?

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes Rick, it works like this, let's say you start with 2 pieces of iron & one piece of nickel, so you put the nickel in between the 2 bits of iron & then you take the weld, OK, then bend that iron + nickel sandwich in two, weld again = 2 layers of nickel, & again = 4 layers, & again = 8 layers, & again =16, again = 32, again = 64, again = 128 layers of nickel.

Forge out that billet with 128 layers, cut it in half, make a sandwich of two pieces of pamor & steel in between, take the weld, then forge to approximate shape and carve inyo a keris.

However --- every time you heat up the material and forge or weld, you lose material through flaking, so these layers are imaginary, thus they are nominal layers, as if you had lost nothing, but the bottom line is that you start with one layer (or whatever), and the more you forge & weld, the thinner that layer (or layers) gets.

Ngulit (or kulit) semangka (or semongko) is the same pamor as wos (or beras) wutah, the only difference is the number & width of the bands of contrasting material.

[Marcokeris]

thanks for the explanation Alan

[A. G. Maisey]

You're welcome Marco.

[blackforest1959]

this thread is the perfect example for why i am here, to learn. Thx all

[Rick]

Originally Posted by blackforest1959

this thread is the perfect example for why i am here, to learn. Thx all

Suggest you get a copy of The World of the Javanese Keris if this is your interest by Garret Solyom.