SLÉWAH KERIS

[ganjawulung]

Cleaning all GuloKlopo's tools for forging on 1st of Suro, the first day of Javanese Calender on September 1, 2019 with water from three springs, outside the besalen.....

[Anthony G.]

awesome photo. Thank you

[Bjorn]

Thanks for sharing, Pak Ganjawulung. Interesting to read and great to see those photos.
I love the contrast between the gonjo and the pamor on the sorsoran, especially on the A-side.

[GIO]

864 layers ? Not likely: either 512 or 1024 !

[A. G. Maisey]

Possible, but then anything is possible.

It becomes a bit difficult to estimate notional/nominal layers if we do not know the progression of folds.

[Jean]

Originally Posted by GIO

864 layers ? Not likely: either 512 or 1024 !

May be Pak Ganja meant 8 to 64 which looks more realistic?

[ganjawulung]

How to make 864 layers?

Simply put, the initial stack of iron-pamor-iron-pamor for making a 'gebingan' for keris blade was first made of 32 layers. Heating it and melding it, then hammered to 36 cm in length. Divided by 3, then stacked. (According to “Bab Pandameling Duwung”, divided 6 and then piled five. One for making ganja. But we made the ganja separately, with same material). So here the first melded 96 layers.

The stack of 96 layers was heated and melded again and hammered it up to 36 cm long (we call the process of heating up and then hammering to make it longer, ‘dionjot’), then cut in three more to be stacked the second time. Be 288 layers.

As the previous process, then the stack of 288 layers was heated and melded, hammered up to 36 cm long, then cut three more. So be a stack of 864 layers. Heated and melded again up to 36 cm. Then, a ‘gebingan’ of 864 layers was ready for making a keris ‘kodhokan’.

The 864 layers gebingan was bent in two, melded and hammered until 36 cm and 4 cm in width. Actually, the total layer of keris is 1,728 plus one layer of slorok, be a ‘kodhokan’ of keris with 1729 layers.

* The photo of GBPH Yudaningrat (wears brown jacket), the younger brother of Sultan Hamengku Buwana X of Yogyakarta, visiting and commenting on GuloKlopo process of making keris.

[Jean]

Thank you Pak Ganja. I checked that 864 is a multiple of 2 and 3 (2x2x2x2x2x3x3x3) so feasible, but this is a lot of layers!
Regards

[ganjawulung]

Originally Posted by Bjorn

Thanks for sharing, Pak Ganjawulung. Interesting to read and great to see those photos.
I love the contrast between the gonjo and the pamor on the sorsoran, especially on the A-side.

Yes, deliberately different material of pamor, different technique.... Different kind of pamor between side A and side B, that we call it.... slewah.