I’ve just found some videos on warangan making and using

[jagabuwana]

Originally Posted by milandro

It would be very nice that someone would make a video comparing the etching of a kris blad with the sulphur method to a warangan

Milandro, you may want to see this post for a line up of stained blades, one of which has been stained with the sulphur method. It may show you a good comparison.

There is also this blade that I stained using the sulphur, salt and rice water method. You may use this method and result to compare.

A hypothesis has been made on the latter post that the sulphur stain method may yield a better result on blades which have been stained with arsenic in the past, compared to those that have never been stained with arsenic before.

[milandro]

Originally Posted by jagabuwana

Milandro, you may want to see this post for a line up of stained blades, one of which has been stained with the sulphur method. It may show you a good comparison.

There is also this blade that I stained using the sulphur, salt and rice water method. You may use this method and result to compare.

A hypothesis has been made on the latter post that the sulphur stain method may yield a better result on blades which have been stained with arsenic in the past, compared to those that have never been stained with arsenic before.

Thank you really very much about this.

I will certainly give the Sulphur method a go since it seems to be certainly way less complex than the warangan method and the results are very good (as shown form you very useful post).

since you’ve done that with success.

I was wandering what the exact function of rice water is? Is it just to form a gelatinous support to incorporate a sort of suspension of salt and sulphur and adhere to the blade?


I will certainly have a go using your formula and method. I have just the right candidate although I don’t know how good a pamor there is (not much is showing at the moment) .


If this works I may apply also to some other blades that I have or may have in future. Thank you very much!

[David]

Originally Posted by jagabuwana

Milandro, you may want to see this post for a line up of stained blades, one of which has been stained with the sulphur method. It may show you a good comparison.

I believe that while this is indeed an interesting line up of blades stained with different method we must be careful about how we view it for "comparison" purposes. Keep in mind that even with consistent methods applied, different irons will not all respond in the same manner to the same staining method. They will yield various colours when stained dependent upon the iron used. This is why a properly stained blade can be more easily read in terms of tangguh because different eras used different types of iron which will produce different colours when stained. So the colour can be one possible clue as to what era the blade was produced in. At least that is my understanding.

[A. G. Maisey]

I agree with your understanding David.

But what can be read from a properly stained blade goes further than just the characteristics of the iron.

Once the blade has been stained we can also determine the characteristics of the pamor and the way in which it has been worked. Additionally we can identify the existence & extent of the heat treatment (sepuhan). More than this, we can also fairly easily identify any repairs that might have been carried out on the blade during its life.

[Bob A]

Has anyone considered or actually used antimony trioxide in place of arsenic trioxide for the purpose of staining keris?

From what I can cursorily discover, it is considerably less toxic than the arsenic compound, though of course not without risk.

[milandro]

despite what anyone may think of the videos and the maker, they remain onde of the few sources of VISUAL information, here is a video on how to understand some of the problems with warangan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK9ISHUNj_w

[A. G. Maisey]

Well, I watched it through.

I do admire this gentleman's persistence, however, to spend all this time and all this work to produce an end result that will be inferior to the normal result produced by a non-commercial process in Central Jawa seems to me to be perhaps a little bit pointless.

Yes, I do accept he has started from nothing and is still in the very early stages of his education, but there are easier, faster & better ways to get a far superior end result to the result that this method produces when it is used by an experienced person.

I am not critical of his efforts, he is doing the best he can with the information & understanding he now has, but the method he is trying to use is one designed for commercial use where a man who does this staining work for a living needs to get a number of blades stained in a limited amount of time and make a profit from the result.

I admire his persistance.

[milandro]

perspectives vary quite a bit.

In most part of the world people don’t have any access to professional “ washers” and although there are many videos in Indonesian language(s) there is almost nothing on line to show the proces, let alone break it down into all its parts, in English.

So, as far as I know, this is and remains the best source for those of us who are not living in Indonesia to get closer to see how this is done.

I don’t want to take anything away from professional washing in Indonesia but the option of shipping items to Indonesia and then having them reshipped to you would greatly increase the coffers content of the couriers and the taxman (In Europe EVERY item , even if yours to begin with, entering the Union would be heavily taxed ( VAT 21%) + if you exceed €150 value there would be also import tax + a flat “ handling through customs charge” charged by any postal sevice or courier.

Most people will not do this, leaving their blades unstained (and unhappy, if one believes that the kris likes to be stained with warangan) it would bring the cost of restoring blades sky high , so seeking an alternative takes no business away from the washers in Indonesia (and by the way there are tons of people in Indonesia selling warangan and realgar on line! They must have customers)

So, looking for a DIY instructional videos takes no money away from the professional in Indonesia, just makes a process available were none is


In the NL I fortunately have someone who washes krises at a reasonable price, but even then, wash a few krises and it really adds up!

I opened this thread for all of the people who will have a go at this method.

There are other methods , especially the Rice water+ Salt and Sulphur method.
But until there are beter or different videos , in English, this remains to only alternative for people living in most part of the world to do this themselves

[Marcokeris]

what a great success !!! |

Originally Posted by milandro

despite what anyone may think of the videos and the maker, they remain onde of the few sources of VISUAL information, here is a video on how to understand some of the problems with warangan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK9ISHUNj_w

[milandro]

I would very much welcome other people to make videos, in English, on their (whichever) way to stain krises. As it is, this youtuber and few people who stain blades (not krises ) by means of other methods (also coffee) make up for the only available video resoyrces on line not in Idonesian languages.