Kentucky Show Barung

[kai]

Hello Ron,

i noticed a crack in the middle of the blade, which immediately reminded me of a twistcore kris. at this point, i still can't see any lamination patterns so i figure i might as well etch it. after etching it, i noticed the pattern was quite unusual, in that it was creating a chevron pattern. then it hit me. they do exist...

Congrats, that's a neat and important find!

Did you etch with ferric chloride? Or vinegar only? It would be great to get the contrast as bold as possible to document the pattern in detail. Easy to reduce the contrast after a foto session if deemed too heavy.

It does seem that the smith was working at his limits though - really tough to keep the pattern reasonably intact when spreading out the forging that much! I do wonder why we haven't seen examples with several rows of twistcore as found with the other (and more slender) Moro blades.

Regards,
Kai