I appreciate the introduction, Gene. Yes, the wootz and jade kris is mine, made for a collector a few years ago. This was my second sword, the first being a boarding cutlass. Both swords were made as interpretive art pieces, not as historical reproductions.
As Gene said, this blade is made from Al Pendray's wootz. Al forged the blade to shape with all its hills and valleys, and forged in the raised center ridge. Al is unusually skilled with his hammer and I received a pretty clean billet. I fitted the kris with bronze trim and a British Columbian nephrite jade handle. The steel does have a pattern, but like most wootz it takes some tricks with a camera to get the pattern to show easily. Pattern welded is a breeze to photograph compared to wootz! Unfortunately I do not have any more pictures of this sword including close ups showing the pattern.
The man who commissioned this sword grew up in Indonesia and obviously likes the kris. He requested my style of sculpting and the wootz over a pattern welded "damascus" steel. That's why you see more of an Art Nouveau interpretation rather than a traditional look.
Gene had asked about etching the wootz. I used a diluted ferric chloride solution. It actually took three etchings to get it right, and I had to refinish and polish the blade each time. Wootz is etched by a quick wiping of the etchant followed by a rinse and oiling. I finally got my wife out in the yard with a garden hose and I would wipe on the etchant and she would hose down the blade. You can't let the ferric stay on the steel more than a few seconds or you loose the crystiline carbide structure that makes the pattern. Wootz takes a surface finish, rather than the topographical etch more commonly used on pattern welded steels.
If there are more questions about this or any other knife or sword I've made, ask away.
David
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