My First Experience With Scarf Welding on a Moro Kriss

[Battara]

Only testing will tell for sure.

However, by the hue of the metal, I'm actually leaning toward copper.

[CharlesS]

More pics...definitely polished copper and the scarf weld.
You may have already noticed a considerable number of forging flaws in the pattern weld.

[Ian]

Charles,

I'm thinking the hilt decoration is a relatively recent redo. The asang asang are not a pair, with the second one looking quite new, and the cord wrap also looks fairly recent to me. The pommel seems older and could be original. The blade itself appears to be 19th C work.

[CharlesS]

Ian, it’s a good point you make. Originally the copper cover was a patinated black. I polished it to get it back to the way it looked originally. It may be a later addition, but the cording is dry rotted and very fragile which lends some credence to its age. I think this is quite an old sword so the fact that it may have seen several grip re-dos would not surprise me at all.

[Rick]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

You may have already noticed a considerable number of forging flaws in the pattern weld.

The considerable number of flaws makes me wonder if the blade had been broken, and because, for whatever reason, the pattern welded blade was recycled and given a new life.
I also wonder if the pamor patterns have any meaning that could be interpreted as would be found on/in a Jawa keris?

We seem to see more and more Moro swords lately that display manipulated work which, I guess, begs the question about Pamors and whether the Malays/ Moros attributed any powers to them, or whether it was just considered fancy work.