unusual keris

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by Pusaka

Dirty Iron is what we call Iron with lots of non metallic components. The forging process drives them out forming sparks as you strike the Iron. The purer the Iron becomes the less sparks formed. No keris could be spongy after being through the forging process. Keris blades are made from different types of besi (traditionally 16) they are all Iron just coming from different sources. I have seen a heavily pitted blade but never seen a spongy blade.

I am not talking here about non-metallic impurities but of the intrinsic structure of iron. besides maybe the original blade wasn't forged at all but cast.


I suspect that under sufficient magnification, the structure of the Keris my look something like this (but less cheesy of course, ):