Metal Balinese hilt with sheath

A. G. Maisey · 23rd February 2020, 08:36 PM

GIO, I think you might be half right.

The forging from which we carve a keris blade is left quite thick & heavy, the pesi is cut square and reduced little by little, not necessarily all at the same time.

It could be that this blade was a failure:- the original billet was made too small, the forging could not be left at adequate thickness to carve a proper blade from, so rather than waste the money that was already in it, it was turned into something to keep some halfway pretty dress together.

It would serve quite OK for a poor man's marriage keris.

So not something that was part-way through manufacture and that could eventually end up as an actual keris, but something that was a failure of manufacture.

Based upon what I can see in the images, this blade was not shaped with an electric grinder, but with a file. grinders tend to leave uninterrupted curved lines, the lines on this blade are straight and in some places form a hatch-work effect.

GIO · 24th February 2020, 04:42 PM

Alan, I fully agree with you. I didn't take into consideration the small size which could be evaluated in relation with the size of the hilt. Such small size would have made impossible to carve the blade correctly.

A. G. Maisey · 24th February 2020, 07:06 PM

Gio --- It is often somewhat difficult to guess at things that one has not previously seen. Until you mentioned the possibility of part completion, I did not realise what I was probably looking at.

23rd February 2020, 08:36 PM	#1
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,019	GIO, I think you might be half right. The forging from which we carve a keris blade is left quite thick & heavy, the pesi is cut square and reduced little by little, not necessarily all at the same time. It could be that this blade was a failure:- the original billet was made too small, the forging could not be left at adequate thickness to carve a proper blade from, so rather than waste the money that was already in it, it was turned into something to keep some halfway pretty dress together. It would serve quite OK for a poor man's marriage keris. So not something that was part-way through manufacture and that could eventually end up as an actual keris, but something that was a failure of manufacture. Based upon what I can see in the images, this blade was not shaped with an electric grinder, but with a file. grinders tend to leave uninterrupted curved lines, the lines on this blade are straight and in some places form a hatch-work effect. Attached Images

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

24th February 2020, 04:42 PM	#2
GIO Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 329	Alan, I fully agree with you. I didn't take into consideration the small size which could be evaluated in relation with the size of the hilt. Such small size would have made impossible to carve the blade correctly.

24th February 2020, 07:06 PM	#3
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,019	Gio --- It is often somewhat difficult to guess at things that one has not previously seen. Until you mentioned the possibility of part completion, I did not realise what I was probably looking at.