Crucible steel in Malela keris

A. G. Maisey · 25th November 2025, 09:51 PM

Yeah, that makes sense Tatyana.

But to me, it seems a bit silly to make a keris blade from wootz.

The big positive quality of wootz is supposedly its superior cutting quality, but this is balanced by its inferior ductility --- apart from which it is not easy to work with.

A keris is a weapon of thrust, & it needs to be able to withstand side forces.

If wootz was used for keris in Sumatera, & this does seem to be the case, maybe it was because of a shortage of other more suitable materials.

Sumatera seemed to have better trade ties with India, Jawa had better trade ties with China. Most ferric material coming into Jawa was from China.

But then there is the fact that China imported wootz from India & exported Chinese steel to India. Maybe that wootz did originate in Sri Lanka or South India, but it got to Sumatera by way of China.

One thing is dead certain:- that wootz material used in Sumatera was not made in Sumatera.

25th November 2025, 09:51 PM	#11
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,135	Yeah, that makes sense Tatyana. But to me, it seems a bit silly to make a keris blade from wootz. The big positive quality of wootz is supposedly its superior cutting quality, but this is balanced by its inferior ductility --- apart from which it is not easy to work with. A keris is a weapon of thrust, & it needs to be able to withstand side forces. If wootz was used for keris in Sumatera, & this does seem to be the case, maybe it was because of a shortage of other more suitable materials. Sumatera seemed to have better trade ties with India, Jawa had better trade ties with China. Most ferric material coming into Jawa was from China. But then there is the fact that China imported wootz from India & exported Chinese steel to India. Maybe that wootz did originate in Sri Lanka or South India, but it got to Sumatera by way of China. One thing is dead certain:- that wootz material used in Sumatera was not made in Sumatera.