Thanks very much for those pics, Ganja.
Sorry it took me a few days to get back to this thread. I was involved in sporting competition over the weekend.
Pengging is a problematical tangguh. I've seen a number of keris that have been identified as Pengging by people whose opinion I must respect, but never two keris the same. The concensus of opinion seems to indicate that what I show below are the dominant characteristics of tangguh Pengging, but getting two knowledgeable people to agree that a particular keris is Pengging seems to be asking for a lot.
Characteristics of a keris of tangguh Pengging:
Tanting:- light
Besi:- fine grained and dense
Pamor:- a rough distinct grain that sometimes runs across the blade rather than parrallel with the edges
Baja:- middle quality, correctly forged and heat-treated.
Pawakan:- the cross section is like rotan; some keris have kruwingan; the wanda (sorry, I cannot give an adequate English word) is a haunted feeling.
Gonjo:-sirah cecak very finely pointed, but sometimes rounded, gulu meled is very long, cross section of gonjo is rounded
Gandhik:- large, well proportioned, but rather short.
Blumbangan:- boto rubuh (fallen brick), deep and wide
Sogokan:- wide, deep, round bottomed and sides undercut
Ada-ada:- small and not to a sharp ridge
Kruwingan:- deep and continuing to the point (where kruwingan exists)
Luk:- very deep , steep curves; these curves are very different to those found in all other keris.
Wadidang:- a long deep curve that starts suddenly.
The three most respected ahli keris whom I have known during my life were all in agreement that these are the characteristics of a Pengging keris, however, getting universal agreement from them that a specific blade was Pengging was an entirely different matter.
Probably the major problem that tangguh presents is that in recent years collectors and dealers have wanted to apply it to classes of keris that it was never intended for, and the result is that now we have a very great deal of confusion.
Personally, I am extremely reluctant to be at all definite in respect of tangguh from any photographs. Even the very best, top quality studio photographs in hardcopy can be misleading, to try to play the tangguh game from internet photos is something that is simply beyond my ability. Yeah, something like an old, degraded Segaluh, I'm prepared to give a qualified opinion on, but most other classifications, I would want the bare blade in my hand before I'd be prepared to venture an opinion.You cannot feel the weight and balance from a photo, and you cannot feel the material. You cannot look at the weld joint where the pamor meets the steel core, and see what sort of welding has been done. Plus 100 other things you cannot do from a photo. As Ganjawulung has already pointed out, you need to handle thousands of blades under respected guidance before you can get a feel for tangguh, you cannot learn it from books. I don't believe it is possible to give positive tangguh opinions from photos, either.And tombak are 100 times more difficult than keris.
I have heard the joking comment in Jawa that tangguh was invented to give men something to talk about.
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