Wilah from?

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes David, certainly, its as I said:- a later addition.

There is nothing about the pendok that looks like Bali or that looks original to this scabbard, for me. My guess is that it was most probably done in Jakarta to make the keris salable.

Harley, if I were to redress this keris I'd be looking at a gayaman wrongko, I would not give it a pendok, and since you undoubtedly do not have a set of segrek to cut the inside of the gandar so there is no joint, I'd be making the gandar in two pieces and glueing down the sides with two part epoxy adhesive, not wood working glue, because woodworking glue can generate rust.

Working out of the Indonesian environment, a pale, plain grained soft wood would be the best choice, and then stain to imitate pelet--- the Balinese and Javanese used to do it, and still do it, why shouldn't you?

[Harley]

Thanks Mr Maisey,

Then that is what i am going to try, i have done the gandar a couple of times,
but like you said i have not the tools to make it in one piece.
I have some plain Indonesian wood that i use for making the sheath, but for the pelet i really must do some practice, i tried one time before, without looking for an example, with as result a ugly kendit

I just realized that i only have a Balinese patrem keris, can someone tell me
what the measurement of the width for a gayaman is?, the rest i can work out.

regards,
Ben

[A. G. Maisey]

I would not call that kendit ugly, its well within the parameters of a natural kendit.

Bali gayams vary a bit in size, they're not as disciplined as Solo and Jogja gayams.

I've just picked up the closest one and its measurements are 185mm long, depth at center point is 57mm, thickness at widest point on top is 26mm, the entire wrongko is 584mm from top of the atasan to the tip of the gandar. Proportion wise it looks a bit too long in the gandar for the size of the atasan.

[Jean]

Hello Ben,
Is the peksi of the blade original and intact? From your 3rd picture it seems as if it was possibly cut and rewelded about 1 cm from the base but it may be just an impression.
Best regards
Jean

[David]

Jean, i think you might just be seeing remnants of the cloth wrapping.

[Jean]

Originally Posted by David

Jean, i think you might just be seeing remnants of the cloth wrapping.

May be, let us wait the reply from Ben, I see a rusty and slightly hollow line on the bottom part.
Ben, is the ganja separate (very thin line) or iras (integral to the blade)?
Regards

[Harley]

Thanks Mr Maisey,

I really don't like the look of the kendit, when i made this sheath it was the only thing i could do to make the plain sheath more attractive, now i first would look for examples, and hopefully do a better job.
Thanks again for the measurements!

Hello Jean,

It's like David said, old wrapping and glue, i can understand that they were afraid to lose this beautiful hilt
To me it looks like a lose ganja, but it's indeed a very thin line, i think the person were i bought it from has painted the peksi en the ganja to save it from rust.

regards,
Ben

[Jean]

Originally Posted by Harley

Hello Jean,

It's like David said, old wrapping and glue, i can understand that they were afraid to lose this beautiful hilt
To me it looks like a lose ganja, but it's indeed a very thin line, i think the person were i bought it from has painted the peksi en the ganja to save it from rust.

regards,
Ben

OK, thanks for the confirmation and information about this strange black colour of the peksi and ganja.
By the way I am not very familiar with old Balinese blades and would not have identified this one as Balinese, thank you Alan!
Regards
Jean