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Originally Posted by T. Koch
Then maybe you - or somebody else - can also answer me this too, now that we're talking BB's/PN's: Howcome we only see these attributed to the Malays of South Kalimantan/Banjar area?
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There are some early articles regarding this very interesting thema:
Hendriks, A.
"Iets over de wapenfabricatie op Borneo" in "Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen 18", 1842: 1-30.
David van Duuren's summary of it is as follows:
"Report on the Sultanate of Banjermasin, Borneo, an important centre of weapon production in the first half of the 19th century. Circa two hundred armourers were active non-stop in various villages; seventy of them based in Negara, where an impressive range of guns, pistols, lances, sabres, klewangs and krisses could be ordered at fixed prices. Hendriks' article is not specifically about the kris, but is nonethless of great interest here, since it is among the earliest contributions to have focussed extensively on pamor forging, which was apparently applied on firearms as well as bladed weapons. He takes a detailed look at the interiors of the smiths' workshops, their tools and methods of working. The iron is extracted and melted locally; the pamor metal on the other hand is brought from elsewhere by the Chinese and the Buginese, for instance the Buginese regions in Celebes and the island of Timor. He includes a summary report on how from two slices of iron and two slices of pamor iron a sabre blade is forged, which upon completion is polished with stones, oil and a fragment of shark skin."
Then there is a reprint of this article with additional introduction by Geisweit van der Netten, C.A., in "Militaire Spectator 14", 1845: 24-35.
And finally an article by Grabowsky, F., "Negara, ein Industrie-Centrum in Südost-Borneo" in "Globus 55", 1889: 90-92.
There is also an article mentioned by Maurice in the post 43 here:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...9&page=2&pp=30
These swords have elements like hand-guards that clearly are mass produced.
I have some suspicions, some, if not most of the twistcore Sulu krisses were also produced there.