Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 13th December 2006, 02:54 AM

Problem is Rick, we don't really know how Bali handles were attached way back when they were actually using the things.

I've had a couple of Bali keris that had the handles fixed with something like damar, so maybe this was general 100 years+ ago, but I don't know for sure.

If damar was used it would have given a very firm fix to the handle. Any tang that is set in damar will split the handle and bend the tang and blade before it ever comes loose. Sword tangs were set in damar, and those tangs are often not all that long. No way you can get a tang set in damar free without heating the blade to soften the damar.

This being so, there was no need to go to the Moro keris system.In any case, Bali blades are not near as substantial as Moro type blades.

13th December 2006, 02:54 AM	#9
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,987	Problem is Rick, we don't really know how Bali handles were attached way back when they were actually using the things. I've had a couple of Bali keris that had the handles fixed with something like damar, so maybe this was general 100 years+ ago, but I don't know for sure. If damar was used it would have given a very firm fix to the handle. Any tang that is set in damar will split the handle and bend the tang and blade before it ever comes loose. Sword tangs were set in damar, and those tangs are often not all that long. No way you can get a tang set in damar free without heating the blade to soften the damar. This being so, there was no need to go to the Moro keris system.In any case, Bali blades are not near as substantial as Moro type blades.