a Sewar cross-dressing as a Badik?

[Moshah]

Hi guys,

I still puzzled by these two things;

1. the markings at the bolster of this badik - is that what the N.Malaysian people called as a "gat" - a talismanic symbol that usually found on their badiks?

2. The edge of this badik seems to have different, emm, "shades". If the true besi baja would be on the edge (which is the must in every case of badik and keris, I guess), then what kind of besi is in the upper part? As Kai have pointed out, it would be made of besi malela, which is basically a besi baja by itself, then did it not supposed to display the same gradient all over the blade?

You can see also that as the edge nearing the tip of the blade, the besi baja goes "berserk" i.e instead of the normal pitting of the besi baja, the structure goes hair-style upwards to the tip. Again, I am totally puzzled as of how it would have happened...

[kai]

Hello Moshah,

1. the markings at the bolster of this badik - is that what the N.Malaysian people called as a "gat" - a talismanic symbol that usually found on their badiks?

Your's looks very man-made to me - could it be leftovers of indentations from a vise or other holding implement?

2. The edge of this badik seems to have different, emm, "shades". If the true besi baja would be on the edge (which is the must in every case of badik and keris, I guess), then what kind of besi is in the upper part? As Kai have pointed out, it would be made of besi malela, which is basically a besi baja by itself, then did it not supposed to display the same gradient all over the blade?

This blade looks like the common sandwich construction to me: the hairy structure is the steel core exposed along the cutting edge while the smoother surface is from the outer layers. I'm not convinced the current staining does justice to the materials - I guess careful repolishing and warangan may result in showing the laminations much clearer; this doesn't look like besi malela to me - probably low contrast though.

Regards,
Kai

[Moshah]

Hi Kai,

Originally Posted by kai

Your's looks very man-made to me - could it be leftovers of indentations from a vise or other holding implement?

Yes I am thinking of the same, it should be a man-made. It looks like how they wrap the besi altogether to form the bolster. But if we are talking about holding instruments involved, I think we would see more of the same markings on many other badik as well.

Originally Posted by kai

This blade looks like the common sandwich construction to me: the hairy structure is the steel core exposed along the cutting edge while the smoother surface is from the outer layers. I'm not convinced the current staining does justice to the materials - I guess careful repolishing and warangan may result in showing the laminations much clearer; this doesn't look like besi malela to me - probably low contrast though.

Is it? I thought the steel core and the outer layers would form the same structure...Oh and I meant "besi melela" here was the type of besi that was used in the production of the keris melela of Terengganu - which I think would be a different version of besi malela of the Javanese kerisology context.

Thanks for the input, Kai.