Mere (weapon) - Material and Manufacture

Material and Manufacture

While the term mere was, and is, used in some regions to refer exclusively to clubs made from pounamu, in other regions, mere was more broadly used to refer to patu of a similar shape and design made from hardwood (meremere, mere rakau), whalebone (patu paraoa), or stone (patu onewa) - in these areas, a mere made from greenstone was known as a mere pounamu or patu pounamu.

The pounamu used to make a mere was carefully chosen to be flawless and to have a good colour. A block of greenstone was first rough cut using pieces of quartzite combined with sand and water. Dressing of the surface was done with fine sandstone and pieces of very hard smooth stone. Due to the toughness of greenstone, mere pounamu were able to made thinner than other similar patu made from stone, however this made the process of manufacture slow and arduous. The creation and finishing of a mere pounamu is claimed to have sometimes taken more than one generation to complete.