If you ask a working keris maker how long it takes to make a keris you are likely to get an answer like 6 months, or a year, or some other rather lengthy period.
I cannot comment on how long it might take other people, but I can say definitely how long it has taken me.
The second keris I made was made under the guidance of Empu Suparman. This keris took about 8 hours over 2 days to forge& I then worked on carving it for a further 16 days, working between 6 & 8 hours each day, the forge work was done by three men, a smith and two strikers, I worked as one of the strikers.
The longest time it took me to make a keris was 49 days. 9 of these days involved 3 men working about 6 to 8 hours per day over a 3 day period, it then took me 40 days working 6 to 8 hours each day to carve it. It was forged in Solo, I carved it in Australia.
I made several keris completely in Australia, & in Australia I needed to work by myself, without a striker, the forge work was done on coke, I used a 12 pound hammer for the heavy work & a 4 pound, one handed hammer for the lighter work, I used a goose neck hold down tool anchored in the pritcel hole to hold the forging for striking with the heavy hammer, it took me about 4 or 5 days of forge work to produce the forging from which to carve the keris, I was not working full days, maybe only 4 or 5 hours each day. These other keris were all straight keris and they each took between 14 & 16 days to carve.
Every keris I have ever made was heat treated, this is not something that is done with most keris made today.
It would take Empu Suparman about 14 days to carve a keris.
You have asked how long it would take to carve a keris like the one you have. I do not know, but I'd guess maybe 2 or 3 times as long as it took me to make something very much more simple.
The empu or pandai keris only makes the blade, separate craftsmen do other work, the gold kinatah work is done by a specialist craftsman.
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