A very, very old Moro kris

[Ian]

As promised, here are the X-rays of the hilt. The various features visible on the X-ray are shown in the picture below, which was taken mainly to visualize the tang. The tang seems quite long compared with 19th C and more modern kris, tapers slightly from the blade to the end of the tang, and has a slight bend. Also apparent are the thick silver bands spaced along the handle. Looking at the pommel, it is interesting to note a drilled void within it that has been hollowed out to accommodate a peg from the handle which has been fixed to the pommel with a small nail or pin. The pin is visible on the exterior of the hilt and there is a small crack in the wood caused by its presence. The degree of detail in this picture is more than I had expected, although we experimented somewhat to get the desired contrast in the image.
The following table shows how the actual length and width of the tang can be calculated from a print out of the attached picture. Using a vernier micrometer, I measured the actual length of the the silver grip on the sword; this was 8.85 cm. I then measured the length of the same structure on the image; that was 7.85 cm. This meant that all linear dimensions on that X-ray image needed to be corrected by a factor of 8.85/7.85 in order to arrive at the correct linear measurement.