Robotic Kris

[Spunjer]

...if the Iron Man were to carry a kris, i envisioned it would kinda look like this. i mean look at it; it's so - robotic, for better lack of terms. let's start with the handle. the pommel is a solid piece; heavy and appears to have been molded. as far as material: brass perhaps? looking at the nooks and crannies, i see verdigris. but what's throwing me off is how it's uniform throughout and smooth where the hand holding it should be. going to the grip part, it's a single wrapped brass wire the size of sewing thread.
now onto the blade.
starting with the gangya: talismanic inlays in the form of both asterisks and discs made out of brass. the blade is held by two silver asang-asang, and a silver breastplate on both side. now here's were it starts to get weird. the center panel exactly four and a half inches from the bottom of the gangya is actually a separate piece altogether. the outline is marked by the brass asterisks. i'm thinking those two brass buttons is what's holding the rest of the blade and the center panel together. perhaps the silver breastplate as well. (check this thread out: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6947)

[Spunjer]

the blade has dual fullers; center one being much wider than the other one. here's weird number two. not all that unusual really, but it's something you don't see everyday. if you look at the overall profile of the blade, it has that yataghan-like curve. i know there was something odd about it at first. once i placed it next to a straight edge, you could really tell.
well, hope y'all like this neat kris....

[ThePepperSkull]

Incredible piece! I've seen kris bases welded to the rest of the blade before, but this is the first time I've seen one where the weld lines are covered up by decorative/talismanic inlays. Beautiful!

How do you supposed they made their metal pommels, ron? I remember reading somewhere that some Lumad tribes (I can't recall if it was the T'boli or the Mandaya) used a Lost-wax casting method. Would this be how Moro craftsmen made theirs? Also interesting to note is the size of the kakatua pommel. A lot of the metal ones I see are the bigger, more ornate pieces to regular-sized as opposed to this one which seems a very diminutive, but field-functional kakatua size.

Another thing I wan to point out is how the fullers terminate at the tip. Instead of stopping before the top ends, the fuller continues on into the tip of the blade. I've seen this in many a fullered moro kris. Is this a sign of a blade being shortened, or were these fullers made this way to continue into the tip instead of terminating an inch or two before it?

[DaveA]

I love this kris! "Robotic" or not, it certainly exudes strength. Thanks for sharing.

[Sajen]

Just come home with my son from cinema, "Marvel's The Avengers"! You are right, this kris could be from Iron Man!!

Congrats to this unique and beautiful kris!

Regards,

Detlef

[Spunjer]

Thanks!
Regarding the pommel, I think your point is valid about the pommel being casted using the lost wax method. What baffles me is the shape of it. There was a lumad kris posted by migueldiaz on my thread, and it seem to be an exact replica of a typical pommel. This one just look a tad futuristic for its time, lol...
I notice the fuller as well, in that it extends all the way to the tip. With everything else pretty much unconventional, I wouldn't be surprise if this was done on purpose...

[kino]

Spunjer, nice kris. It must have some heft to it, considering the solid metal pommel. Do you think at it's early development it had a silver panel on both sides of the blade within the brass inlays. Like the photo below.
Just a thought.
Did I mention that, that's a nice kris..........sigh....

[Spunjer]

C'mon brah, ya need to post a full body shot of that beaut...
Seems to me they belong in the same category. Notice how the asterisks continue past the gangya line and follow the fretwork. Is the center panel on yours silver? I don't think mine is an earlier version; rather, I think yours is just the blingy type.

[kino]

If it were only mine, then I would've posted a full length photo.
Sorry homie.

[Spunjer]

ah, sayang, pre..
as far as heft: not much heftier than a kris of the same size... as a matter of fact, it's balanced as heck. it perfectly counteracts the arc of the blade. the blade is beefier than normal tho.
of note as well is a copper wire wedged between the handle and blade (visible on pic 2). can't figure what it is. only thing i can think of is perhaps it was used for a munsala cloth at one time...

[A.alnakkas]

Wow what a nice piece, thanks for sharing mate! now ship it to me please. :P

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Spunjer

ah, sayang, pre..

LOL!

[delor]

Originally Posted by Spunjer

the center panel exactly four and a half inches from the bottom of the gangya is actually a separate piece altogether. the outline is marked by the brass asterisks.

Hello Spunjer,
I am not sure the center panel is a separate piece... looking at the close-up photos, I can't tell whether the line is a welding line or is an engraved one for brass inlay, just the same as for the stars.
By the way, the silver plate might hide the welding of the tang onto the blade...

[Spunjer]

Originally Posted by delor

Hello Spunjer,
I am not sure the center panel is a separate piece... looking at the close-up photos, I can't tell whether the line is a welding line or is an engraved one for brass inlay, just the same as for the stars.
By the way, the silver plate might hide the welding of the tang onto the blade...

i beg to differ, delor. it's hard to capture in photos, but the color tone of center panel is more obvious in real life. another hint that i would like to share is, by using a magnifying glass on the asterisk socket (missing a filling), the separation line can e seen, albeit faintly.
i do think you might be spot on about the silver plate hiding the weld joints.

[Gustav]

It seems to me, this could be a possibility to explain the different fullers, the slightly curved blade and also the probably reshaped tip. Accidentaly also some of the decorations at the base of the blade are similar.

A couple of links to similar blades:

http://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/...70.1%2F%207745

http://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/...70.1%2F%209197

[Gustav]

And the big minus of my "theory": in this case the narrower fuller should be on the other side... Neverthless I suppose, the original tip could have been some kind of asymetrical regarding those fifferent fullers.

[Spunjer]

hmmm, good point gustav. even if the blade has not been reshaped, it is indeed odd to see the narrower fuller being closer to the inner blade.

btw, thank you for the link! some very unusual and one of a kind krises on that album! seems to have a few of the Robot Kris variety on there as well...

http://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/...%2F%204151%20A

[kai]

Hello Ron & Gustav,

even if the blade has not been reshaped, it is indeed odd to see the narrower fuller being closer to the inner blade.

If I recall correctly those kris with narrow, asymmetric fuller that I've seen, it is generally placed along the lower (working) edge. Indeed somewhat counter-intuitive and I've failed so far to come up with a functional reason (or convincing working hypothesis) for this configuration.

Regards,
Kai