My second keris :)

shayde78 · 1st January 2018, 04:43 AM

Thank you for the informative feedback

I will work on taking more clear pictures to post soon.

I lucked out with this piece as the seller listed it as a 'wooden sword' because the blade was bent and stuck in the sarong. I had to bid sight unseen.

One thing I noticed is how much lighter this is than my first keris . Is there often such variation in weight??

Athanase · 1st January 2018, 11:55 PM

Yes it is common, for the same dapur, blades can have been conceived more or less thick or strong. Besides, here your blade received many bath of acid, what made him lose some material and the lighter even more.

rasdan · 2nd January 2018, 12:45 AM

I have weighed some of my Javanese kerises, but only roughly as I didn't remove the hilts before weighing. The lightest keris I have is around 140 gm while the heaviest almost 400 gm. Yes the lightest one are heavily corroded, I estimated the corrosion is around 30% tops.

However, if we add back that 30% lost material into the keris it will still be very light compared to the ones that are less corroded (presumably newer ones). So I think older keris not only are lighter because of the erosion, but it was light even when it was new. The reasons are probably the smaller size and material used.

But it doesn't mean that it is an ineffective weapon when it was new, a blade weighing around 200 gm is effective enough especially when considering the type of attire people use in those days.

shayde78 · 21st January 2018, 03:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shayde78

One thing I noticed is how much lighter this is than my first keris . Is there often such variation in weight??

So I finally got around to weighing these two keris. The naga keris I linked to above weighs in at 200g/7oz. The keris solo featured on this thread weighs 150g/5oz. The lighter one is also the longer of the two. They both have about the same degree of loss to the blade material. Essentially, the naga is just a much beefier blade all around. As these represent both the first and second keris I have ever seen and/or handled in person, I was not aware there could be that much variation.
I am starting to appreciate how different it is to touch these objects, rather than simply see in pictures in books or online.

2nd January 2018, 12:45 AM	#3
rasdan Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Kuala Lumpur Posts: 368	I have weighed some of my Javanese kerises, but only roughly as I didn't remove the hilts before weighing. The lightest keris I have is around 140 gm while the heaviest almost 400 gm. Yes the lightest one are heavily corroded, I estimated the corrosion is around 30% tops. However, if we add back that 30% lost material into the keris it will still be very light compared to the ones that are less corroded (presumably newer ones). So I think older keris not only are lighter because of the erosion, but it was light even when it was new. The reasons are probably the smaller size and material used. But it doesn't mean that it is an ineffective weapon when it was new, a blade weighing around 200 gm is effective enough especially when considering the type of attire people use in those days. Last edited by rasdan; 2nd January 2018 at 04:03 AM.

1st January 2018, 04:43 AM	#1
shayde78 Member Join Date: Mar 2017 Posts: 445	Thank you for the informative feedback I will work on taking more clear pictures to post soon. I lucked out with this piece as the seller listed it as a 'wooden sword' because the blade was bent and stuck in the sarong. I had to bid sight unseen. One thing I noticed is how much lighter this is than my first keris . Is there often such variation in weight??

1st January 2018, 11:55 PM	#2
Athanase Member Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: Paris (France) Posts: 417	Yes it is common, for the same dapur, blades can have been conceived more or less thick or strong. Besides, here your blade received many bath of acid, what made him lose some material and the lighter even more.