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Originally Posted by Jean
He also refers to forgeries of Trengganu Majapahit-picit krisses with a broad punched blade and integral hilt.
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I am also not convinced we can refer to any keris picit as "forgeries" simply because we suspect a broad punch was used to create the indentations. This is probably the case with many old keris picit for all we know. I don't think it is actually possible to prove that any picit was truly accomplished with only the bare fingers of the smith. Like Gardner i do believe that on very thin blades this method is indeed possible to accomplish, but to prove it one way or another for any particular keris would be quite impossible. Some indentations do tend to look more organic than others, but beyond that how would we know?
I am surprised to find that Gardner seems to dismiss the magickal power of such a method though, stating "Such a feat would be no more wonderful than firewalking. It is said that many professional conjurers use on their hands a mixture of camphor and styrax dissolved in spirit, and can then handle red hot iron with ease." Given that Gardner was indeed the father of modern Wicca and a practitioner of ceremonial and ritual magick in his day it seems odd that he would dismiss the use of bare finger tips transferring talismanic power into a blade as a mere parlor trick. From my perspective it is not that the act seems impossible to perform that determines the intent and purpose or power of the act. It is simply a direct transference of power by the empu into the blade. If "tricks" are used to make this operation possible it does not really diminish the act in the eyes of the empu or those that believe in its power. Of course, Gardner didn't fully begin to step into his magickal world view until 1939 so maybe these ideas were not fully formed in his mind at the time of this writing.
