Thoughts on this Keris

David · 4th November 2020, 04:38 PM

Thanks for showing that beautiful keris.

You haven't yet, and that is probably by intent, but are you willing to make any comments about the push dagger this young smith claims has retained the Widmanstätten pattern from the meteorite he used. It has always been my understanding that is not possible once forged, but my experience with actual forging is limited to a few simple projects done with old railroad spikes so i have no expertise to go on here. But it sure seems like a spurious claim to me.

Seerp Visser · 4th November 2020, 07:17 PM

To my knowlegde, the Widmanstatten structure disappeares at a temperature of about or some over 700 degrees C.
The materials for forging the dagger are too cold to forgeweld at that temperature.
Widmanstatten structures are formed by extremely slow cooling of the material during millions of years.
So the meteoritic material has been inserted in te dagger cold, or at least on a temperature lower than 700 degrees C.

A. G. Maisey · 4th November 2020, 08:19 PM

Spot on Seerp. Jerzy said pretty much the same thing about ID of meteorite after the forge weld process.

It is a really pretty keris David, in fact much better than the photo shows, that photo was done more than ten years ago, my equipment and understanding has improved a bit during the last 10 or 12 years.

As for our young wouldbe blade smith, I'd just as soon not comment, let other people teach him what's right & what's wrong.

4th November 2020, 04:38 PM	#1
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,047	Thanks for showing that beautiful keris. You haven't yet, and that is probably by intent, but are you willing to make any comments about the push dagger this young smith claims has retained the Widmanstätten pattern from the meteorite he used. It has always been my understanding that is not possible once forged, but my experience with actual forging is limited to a few simple projects done with old railroad spikes so i have no expertise to go on here. But it sure seems like a spurious claim to me.

4th November 2020, 07:17 PM	#2
Seerp Visser Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Belgium Posts: 37	To my knowlegde, the Widmanstatten structure disappeares at a temperature of about or some over 700 degrees C. The materials for forging the dagger are too cold to forgeweld at that temperature. Widmanstatten structures are formed by extremely slow cooling of the material during millions of years. So the meteoritic material has been inserted in te dagger cold, or at least on a temperature lower than 700 degrees C.

4th November 2020, 08:19 PM	#3
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,742	Spot on Seerp. Jerzy said pretty much the same thing about ID of meteorite after the forge weld process. It is a really pretty keris David, in fact much better than the photo shows, that photo was done more than ten years ago, my equipment and understanding has improved a bit during the last 10 or 12 years. As for our young wouldbe blade smith, I'd just as soon not comment, let other people teach him what's right & what's wrong.