My Bugis keris

[kai]

Hello Johan,

Would I be correct when I say that my Bugis keris blade does not contain nickel, and that the slight colour differences visible can be ascribed to different types of iron ("white" and "black") in the billet?

Your blade could be called "out of stain", i. e. it is not really possible to estimate how strong the contrast would be after any kind of etching. The contour-like or topographic effect of your blade suggests that the pamor was forged from quite different iron alloys; most likely these would also result in very visible pamor upon etching again: the contrast might get black & white as in David's example or (more likely with these kind of blades) some shade of dark grey vs. light grey...

Regards,
Kai