The Purpose of Keris Panjang

A. G. Maisey · 11th March 2024, 12:14 AM

Milandro, the reason is not really in the forging of the blade, it is in the carving of the blade.

Just about all the features you see in a blade are carved in.

Everybody unfamiliar with the process always thinks in terms of forging, but it is the cold work that gives the keris its features and that uses time.

I have made a few keris using traditional Javanese methods, that means no electric tools, only the traditional tools that were in use until very recently when makers began to use angle grinders, and die grinders so forth.

Working by myself with no striker, I was able to make the forging for a keris blade using pamor wos wutah in about 4 days --- using a striker cuts that time in half --- but to carve the blade, a simple straight blade, tilam upih or similar would take me around 10 to 12 days, something like a sinom robyong would take 14 to 16 days.

11th March 2024, 12:14 AM	#32
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	Milandro, the reason is not really in the forging of the blade, it is in the carving of the blade. Just about all the features you see in a blade are carved in. Everybody unfamiliar with the process always thinks in terms of forging, but it is the cold work that gives the keris its features and that uses time. I have made a few keris using traditional Javanese methods, that means no electric tools, only the traditional tools that were in use until very recently when makers began to use angle grinders, and die grinders so forth. Working by myself with no striker, I was able to make the forging for a keris blade using pamor wos wutah in about 4 days --- using a striker cuts that time in half --- but to carve the blade, a simple straight blade, tilam upih or similar would take me around 10 to 12 days, something like a sinom robyong would take 14 to 16 days.