knifemaker's challenge

timos-

timos-

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 22, 2012
Messages
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would anyone be interested in something like this? I have been itching to make a kris style blade, it might be fun to make it a challenge where anyone can join and submit photos of the finish work to be judged in a poll in the handmade/custom forum or something like that.
I am not talking a full sized kris only but just any size blade with say a minimum of say 3 "waves". How about 3 months to complete , each person is encouraged to post pictures of the project in progress as well as whatever historical facts about the style of knife. That way it can be educational too :)

Ok here is the guidelines:

3 months to complete! Deadline is September 2nd.
Kris style knife can be made from forging or stock removal.
Blade must have a minimum of 3 waves but is otherwise not restricted by length.
If someone has information on what defines the wave or the correct terminology, I can add it here.

Participants:
Natlek
timos-
john april
Richards338
 
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As far as I am concerned anyone can put up a challenge. If it gets moving with some amount of group participation, I will sticky it.

A properly forged kris/keris is a difficult project to pull off well.
 
I like challenge :) I'm in , but no forged if that is acceptable ? 3 "waves" is enough , right ? I have plenty file to destroy ........... :D
Is this knife 3 waves ? I don t know how to count :)

h8raKro.jpg
 
This is a great idea, and timely for me since I just finished a few others. I'm in.
Natlek, your photo spans two wavelengths, but for our purposes, having three crests I say it should count.
 
Ok cool! 3 crests then, i think that counts. I am also going to do stock removal, probably shooting for 6" blade length, like a kris style boot dagger. Thanks for posting the pic natlek. Ill draw up a design of mine later.

edit to add: I am guessing most people would use 1" wide belts for these type of grinds?
 
Im always happy to do discounts for challenge knives.

The Kris was the sword/ dagger of south east asia, and i recently ordered a few hundred pounds of wood from Java, Indonesia and Borneo.

I think i will run a discount on these Oceanic woods for people making a kris!
 
that is a great idea ben, I will try and use that stuff for sure. What is the species?
 
I played around with some functions to make a pattern for the blade.
I use a modified sine function in Excel.
The wave frequency increases towards the tip. I used sin(x^1.5) instead of just sin(x).
Next the wave amplitude damps as the cube of x.
Finally the two sides slope towards each other as cube of x.
You can play with coefficients for each effect to make each aspect more or less dramatic.
This is mine for now.

EKCBXfY.jpg
 
Richard338 said:
I played around with some functions to make a pattern for the blade.
I use a modified sine function in Excel.
The wave frequency increases towards the tip. I used sin(x^1.5) instead of just sin(x).
Next the wave amplitude damps as the cube of x.
Finally the two sides slope towards each other as cube of x.
You can play with coefficients for each effect to make each aspect more or less dramatic.
This is mine for now.

EKCBXfY.jpg
Click to expand...
You lost me after “I played around” o_O Place over horn, hit, flip, repeat :cool:

Ben, I’ve never heard of star apple before, but love how that looks. Is it actually an apple tree, or is it just a name it picked up somehow?
 
Richard338 said:
I played around with some functions to make a pattern for the blade.
I use a modified sine function in Excel.
The wave frequency increases towards the tip. I used sin(x^1.5) instead of just sin(x).
Next the wave amplitude damps as the cube of x.
Finally the two sides slope towards each other as cube of x.
You can play with coefficients for each effect to make each aspect more or less dramatic.
This is mine for now.

EKCBXfY.jpg
Click to expand...



That might be the coolest blade design work anyone has ever done in Microsoft Excel...
 
lanternnate said:
You lost me after “I played around” o_O Place over horn, hit, flip, repeat :cool:

Ben, I’ve never heard of star apple before, but love how that looks. Is it actually an apple tree, or is it just a name it picked up somehow?
Click to expand...

Its the english name for the fruit. I do a lot of work with mills in Thailand, Brazil, Indonesia and the edges of the Congo. Many of these places have the same fruit trees planted, as their climates are similar. Star apple is one example that has a well known names from different nations.

In Indonesia, it is generally known as Sawo Duren, in Brazil caimito is the name my suppliers use for it, in the French speaking congo its known as pomme de lait.

I actually have an article in the works about just this thing. 90% of the time I get an email asking for help IDing a wood or asking for info about a wood with a weird name, the answer is that it is a trade name or a local name or a corruption of a local name for a wood I knew about. I happen to have a 4 volume series that lists dozens or sometimes hundreds of trade and local names, so its not too hard for me to find these. And as a reminder, if you ever need help with a wood ID please send me a message!

Sawo Duren AKA star apple is kinda special for this project, as it is a very classic wood for the Kris. The Kris is a sword found all over south east asia, in Bali, In Vietnam, Cambodia, the whole Indonesian archipelago, Borneo, and on to parts of Southern India like Tamil. But the island of Java has the deepest history with the Kris, and it is a powerful social signal, much like the traditional kirpan carried by Sikh men. In the cultures of Java, each wood denotes a specific social rank. If you want I can pull up the page and try to put together some info about each element of symbolism that the wood, curve and number of waves represents.

Sawo Duren though is used to show a man as a career solider. the warriors of the Srivijaya were the main users of the Kris, at least in Pre islamic Indonesia. The solider caste was known as cātabhata, and a distinguised cātabhata would be given command over his own group of men, and during his promotion would purchase or be gifted a new Kris, genreally with Sawo Duren. think of equivalent rank to Captain in the modern military. It might also be used by a minor warlord prince as a way of showing his soldiers he did have royal ambitions, but was very much a man of the people, a simple solider rather than a royal pretender.

If you are interested i can pull out the book and expand this description. I think its a shame how little people know about the diverse cultures of south east asia.
 
Spideyjg said:
OK given the way the fruit reeks what is the wood like? Wouldn't want to start sanding that and have that fruit smell explode out of it.

Jim
Click to expand...

Nope. Dont worry. The smell is mild to not noticeable. Think about it this way, i have never worked a wood that smelled as bad as Desert Ironwood.

As for the characteristics of the fruit in the wood, you would think, but no matter how many blocks of mango Wood i try to eat, they just keep tasting like splinters.
 
I lived in SEA for a year as a young teen with my family. I saw many Kris Swords & Daggers and was to naive to know what I was looking at ..I could have purchased many..I arched the men there practice their Kris martial arts quite a few Saturdays...............,,,,,,..........,.... I was told that a proper Kris Sword or Dagger always has 7 curves. A lucky number or some such? I don’t know if that holds true everywhere. But it did where I was in W. Maylaysia ... ——————They can be made by stock removal by grinding lengthways on the bottom of your contact wheel.—————If I wasn’t so backed up on my orders I’d love to join in .. I will be a voyeur for this one..;)
 
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