Crucible steel in Malela keris

A. G. Maisey · 25th November 2025, 05:31 AM

Jaga, this keris has no pamor, it is all from the same material, it has no core.

Don't forget that before ferric material is mixed with nickel bearing material, that ferric material needs to be washed, so what we're looking at in this blade is, I think, material that was so dirty to begin with that it needed a very large number of weld heats to get it clean. I believe that it is extremely unlikely that the maker intended it to finish up looking like it does, but he just had to keep on folding & welding to get it clean enough to use.

What I've found is that even with poor quality wrought iron, it normally comes clean after about 6 or 8 times folded & welded. When it is clean then you can add the nickel & weld & fold some more.

I've only ever seen one example of pamor urab-urab, & I do not know what the material was, it might have been like this keris, it might have been wootz, but I would never be able to identify wootz positively from a photo, I'd need to handle it, & even then I could be wrong.

As to how I would ID anything at all, the answer is pretty much always going to be "more than 70 years of experience", that & the fact that I've gotten my hands dirty along the way. But seriously, simply by looking , examining the nature of the material & following the grain.

I do not know if a keris made entirely of wootz ever existed. I know that at least one gonjo did, but a whole keris? Doubt it.

Yeah, it has no core, but all that does is tell us that it cannot have any pamor either.

25th November 2025, 05:31 AM	#5
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,154	Jaga, this keris has no pamor, it is all from the same material, it has no core. Don't forget that before ferric material is mixed with nickel bearing material, that ferric material needs to be washed, so what we're looking at in this blade is, I think, material that was so dirty to begin with that it needed a very large number of weld heats to get it clean. I believe that it is extremely unlikely that the maker intended it to finish up looking like it does, but he just had to keep on folding & welding to get it clean enough to use. What I've found is that even with poor quality wrought iron, it normally comes clean after about 6 or 8 times folded & welded. When it is clean then you can add the nickel & weld & fold some more. I've only ever seen one example of pamor urab-urab, & I do not know what the material was, it might have been like this keris, it might have been wootz, but I would never be able to identify wootz positively from a photo, I'd need to handle it, & even then I could be wrong. As to how I would ID anything at all, the answer is pretty much always going to be "more than 70 years of experience", that & the fact that I've gotten my hands dirty along the way. But seriously, simply by looking , examining the nature of the material & following the grain. I do not know if a keris made entirely of wootz ever existed. I know that at least one gonjo did, but a whole keris? Doubt it. Yeah, it has no core, but all that does is tell us that it cannot have any pamor either.