Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · Yesterday, 09:45 PM

Alan is unable to put a name on this pendok motif, overall it looks like a Banyumas pendok, but it is not really out of place matched to this wrongko. It might be silver, might be mamas, no way of knowing short of a test, but it doesn’t really matter, there is no real difference in quality or value between the two materials at this end of the scale, it will be quite light in weight. Light polish with 0000 steel wool, or maybe just a silver cloth.

I think I’d be inclined to strip the wrongko of its finish with medium grade steel wool and methylated spirits, re-polish then give it a few coats of danish oil, take the shine off the final coat with a light once over with 0000 steel wool, it will come up pretty nice.

The hilt pretty pedestrian, but its OK, I would not re-finish this,I think, hand rub with furniture oil and wipe off with a soft cloth will help remove dirt, brush the carved areas with a tooth brush.

As previously commented, the blade is not great, but that is not necessarily a negative. If we study the keris, we need to understand the entire spectrum, not just the high art. It is a keris, it is quite representative of a lower level, it has a couple of unusual elements, one of which is the gandik which is too long for normal proportions, too short for a kebo. It is, I believe, a pretty old blade, perhaps classifiable as Pajajaran, but I’d need it in hand to be a bit more sure of that. Its OK for what it is.

As David remarked, the hilt is not well fitted. Remove it, clean out the hole, there might be some old, loose binding stuck there that prevents the hilt from sitting correctly. If the pesi (tang) is a bit skewed, give it a bit of heat from a torch, just black hot, use something as an anvil, maybe part of a bench vice, & lightly tap back the pesi into a correct alignment. That tang should be quite soft anyway, heat treat never goes anywhere near the tang, & I doubt there is much evidence of heat treat left in this blade anyway. When we quench a blade, that hardness lessens the further it penetrates the blade, and I believe that maintenance over time will have removed much of the hardness from this blade.

When you are confident that you can bring the hilt into alignment with the blade, use knitting wool as your material to bind the hilt, & get hold of a mendak, which should not be difficult. I’d be quite prepared to give you one that would do the job, but the postage would cost vastly more than the mendak would be worth, so that’s not an option, maybe somebody who lives closer to you might be able to assist.

Tidied up a bit, this keris has the possibility to present quite nicely.

Yesterday, 09:45 PM	#5
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,128	Alan is unable to put a name on this pendok motif, overall it looks like a Banyumas pendok, but it is not really out of place matched to this wrongko. It might be silver, might be mamas, no way of knowing short of a test, but it doesn’t really matter, there is no real difference in quality or value between the two materials at this end of the scale, it will be quite light in weight. Light polish with 0000 steel wool, or maybe just a silver cloth. I think I’d be inclined to strip the wrongko of its finish with medium grade steel wool and methylated spirits, re-polish then give it a few coats of danish oil, take the shine off the final coat with a light once over with 0000 steel wool, it will come up pretty nice. The hilt pretty pedestrian, but its OK, I would not re-finish this,I think, hand rub with furniture oil and wipe off with a soft cloth will help remove dirt, brush the carved areas with a tooth brush. As previously commented, the blade is not great, but that is not necessarily a negative. If we study the keris, we need to understand the entire spectrum, not just the high art. It is a keris, it is quite representative of a lower level, it has a couple of unusual elements, one of which is the gandik which is too long for normal proportions, too short for a kebo. It is, I believe, a pretty old blade, perhaps classifiable as Pajajaran, but I’d need it in hand to be a bit more sure of that. Its OK for what it is. As David remarked, the hilt is not well fitted. Remove it, clean out the hole, there might be some old, loose binding stuck there that prevents the hilt from sitting correctly. If the pesi (tang) is a bit skewed, give it a bit of heat from a torch, just black hot, use something as an anvil, maybe part of a bench vice, & lightly tap back the pesi into a correct alignment. That tang should be quite soft anyway, heat treat never goes anywhere near the tang, & I doubt there is much evidence of heat treat left in this blade anyway. When we quench a blade, that hardness lessens the further it penetrates the blade, and I believe that maintenance over time will have removed much of the hardness from this blade. When you are confident that you can bring the hilt into alignment with the blade, use knitting wool as your material to bind the hilt, & get hold of a mendak, which should not be difficult. I’d be quite prepared to give you one that would do the job, but the postage would cost vastly more than the mendak would be worth, so that’s not an option, maybe somebody who lives closer to you might be able to assist. Tidied up a bit, this keris has the possibility to present quite nicely.