Tegal style Keris

A. G. Maisey · 4th April 2024, 10:59 PM

Martin, I most sincerely doubt that we are looking at a scratch, I have seen this sort of erosion on many old keris.

If you look carefully, you can see a line of pamor that extends from the body of the blade into the pesi, we can actually see the pesi, the gonjo is worn through.

I have been able to repair this in some keris, a couple i gave to specialist welders to get some more metal into the gap, others I have put an inlay of plastic steel into the gap.

All of this sort of thing is very delicate work and I do not advise that it should be attempted by anybody who lacks the necessary experience. Sometimes it is necessary to reduce the diameter of of the pesi a little, & then, when you refit the gonjo you do not use the wedge method, you use some sort of suitable adhesive.

Detlef, I do not know how I would treat this mounting of the keris, I'd need it in hand. It is entirely possible I'd do nothing.

The guideline used by most tukang wrongkos I knew & know in Solo is that the tip of the sirah cecak & the tip of the buntut urang should be covered, however, I have heard other experienced craftsmen advocate for the sirah cecak & buntut urang to sit below the top of the atasan in order to permit the center of the gonjo to be covered, still others maintain that in olden times it was the practice to have the gonjo stting proud of the atasan, as we see in some Bugis keris, & this "proud of the atasan" style was also used in old Bali.

On a new Javanese wrongko I would want to see the sirah cecak tip & buntut urang tip covered, on an old wrongko I'd probably go with whatever looked OK.

4th April 2024, 10:59 PM	#8
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,723	Martin, I most sincerely doubt that we are looking at a scratch, I have seen this sort of erosion on many old keris. If you look carefully, you can see a line of pamor that extends from the body of the blade into the pesi, we can actually see the pesi, the gonjo is worn through. I have been able to repair this in some keris, a couple i gave to specialist welders to get some more metal into the gap, others I have put an inlay of plastic steel into the gap. All of this sort of thing is very delicate work and I do not advise that it should be attempted by anybody who lacks the necessary experience. Sometimes it is necessary to reduce the diameter of of the pesi a little, & then, when you refit the gonjo you do not use the wedge method, you use some sort of suitable adhesive. Detlef, I do not know how I would treat this mounting of the keris, I'd need it in hand. It is entirely possible I'd do nothing. The guideline used by most tukang wrongkos I knew & know in Solo is that the tip of the sirah cecak & the tip of the buntut urang should be covered, however, I have heard other experienced craftsmen advocate for the sirah cecak & buntut urang to sit below the top of the atasan in order to permit the center of the gonjo to be covered, still others maintain that in olden times it was the practice to have the gonjo stting proud of the atasan, as we see in some Bugis keris, & this "proud of the atasan" style was also used in old Bali. On a new Javanese wrongko I would want to see the sirah cecak tip & buntut urang tip covered, on an old wrongko I'd probably go with whatever looked OK.