The traditional art of keris making

[A. G. Maisey]

When people talk about seven different kinds of metals, they are talking about seven different kinds of ferric material in other words seven different kinds of iron or steel or iron/steel alloy. Sometimes these different kinds of materials are not really different upon analysis, but rather have different sources or have been used for different original purposes.

I first used the Malay method to expose pamor when I was in my teens, more than 50 years ago, I think I found the recipe in Bastin, if not Bastin, it was another book written by an Englishman in Malaya in the 19th century. It called for sulphur, rice water, salt, and for the blade to be covered in this and to be wrapped in a banana leaf for a number of days. I used this method a few times, but then I discovered the arsenic method, and found it to be much more effective