giant tenegre

[kino]

Originally Posted by Ian

Hi kino:

As noted by several commenters in that thread it is a very unusual kris and possibly not of Moro origin--perhaps Malay.

There’s only one mention of “Malay”, in the thread of the chevron patterned kris and it is in reference to the hilt cup not the blade

[ariel]

Re: Kino's example of chevron Moro blade.

According to Elgood , chevron blades were " invented" in India in late 19th century by a single smith from Udaipur, named Gopilal and this tradition has been continued by his family till now. They said that most of the existing blades are contemporary and that the only other place that made them was a town of Bhinder. Elgood even observed actual making of such a blade ( R. Elgood " Arms and Armour at the Jaipur court" , p.146-147).

Seems to me that the attribution of the blade to late 19th - 20 century might be correct.
In any case, some master smith there picked up the newest Indian fashion early on and did a good job.

[RSWORD]

No comment on the possibility if a wootz blade could have been made or imported into the Philippines. However, I will focus strictly on the blade in question. From what I can see in the pictures this is not wootz. The pattern exhibited does not follow what you typically see in wootz. Certainly a far cry from the example in the book. Yes, wootz can have the pattern distorted at the edge from hammering but it still exhibits the flowing lines as seen on the balance of the blade. I think in this Panay blade what you see is a fine grain structure not unlike what you would see in Japanese hada. This blade has been folded many times and well hammered to make an almost crystalline pattern. I have seen this before in Filipino blades. Remember, not all patterned blades are wootz. My vote is for a blade that has many layers finely hammered creating a Japanese hada affect.

[ShazamsLaw]

Originally Posted by RSWORD

No comment on the possibility if a wootz blade could have been made or imported into the Philippines. However, I will focus strictly on the blade in question. From what I can see in the pictures this is not wootz. The pattern exhibited does not follow what you typically see in wootz. Certainly a far cry from the example in the book. Yes, wootz can have the pattern distorted at the edge from hammering but it still exhibits the flowing lines as seen on the balance of the blade. I think in this Panay blade what you see is a fine grain structure not unlike what you would see in Japanese hada. This blade has been folded many times and well hammered to make an almost crystalline pattern. I have seen this before in Filipino blades. Remember, not all patterned blades are wootz. My vote is for a blade that has many layers finely hammered creating a Japanese hada affect.

I don't recall Visayan blades having that type of quality steel. More or less they mostly worked with iron "as breakable as glass" which they imported from china.

[kino]

Originally Posted by ariel

Re: Kino's example of chevron Moro blade.

According to Elgood , chevron blades were " invented" in India in late 19th century by a single smith from Udaipur, named Gopilal and this tradition has been continued by his family till now. They said that most of the existing blades are contemporary and that the only other place that made them was a town of Bhinder. Elgood even observed actual making of such a blade ( R. Elgood " Arms and Armour at the Jaipur court" , p.146-147).

Seems to me that the attribution of the blade to late 19th - 20 century might be correct.
In any case, some master smith there picked up the newest Indian fashion early on and did a good job.

Thank you Ariel for sharing this anecdote.