Restoration project

A. G. Maisey · 21st July 2011, 10:07 PM

Yes, the part of the blade that has been heat treated always shows more corrosion than the part that has not been heat treated.

It is not "tempering".

It is "heat treating"

The blade is brought to critical temperature and plunged into a cooling medium, water or oil.

This hardens it, and for a keris that is all that is done.

If it were to be tempered, the next step would be to heat it gently until a polished section of the blade showed the correct colour, typically for a knife blade, straw/blue.

This tempering, or "drawing of the temper" process is not carried out for keris, as it is not necessary:- the steel core which has been hardened is protected from damage by the pamor which does not contain steel, and hence is softer than the core.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Threaded Mode

21st July 2011, 10:07 PM	#4
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,019	Yes, the part of the blade that has been heat treated always shows more corrosion than the part that has not been heat treated. It is not "tempering". It is "heat treating" The blade is brought to critical temperature and plunged into a cooling medium, water or oil. This hardens it, and for a keris that is all that is done. If it were to be tempered, the next step would be to heat it gently until a polished section of the blade showed the correct colour, typically for a knife blade, straw/blue. This tempering, or "drawing of the temper" process is not carried out for keris, as it is not necessary:- the steel core which has been hardened is protected from damage by the pamor which does not contain steel, and hence is softer than the core.