My eBay Venture
 

Hello everyone!

Another member of this forum pointed out this auction to me, so I bid and won. I just received it today and I'm pretty excited. It's going to be an easy clean up - I already started shining up the pendok, the blade is in pineapple juice and I've done some rudimentary repairs to the warangka. I'm really happy becuase this is my first ladrang sheath.

A big "Thank you" yo the tipster!

Congrats for this nice 13 luk keris. Try to polish the wood with car polish, I have received this tip one day from Alan G. Maisey. After this use a good wood oil or antique wax.

Regards,

Detlef

Thank you on many levels, Detlef! Pretty soon this will be a fine example - the pictures make it look pretty bad, but it is merely cosmetics.

UPDATE!
 

Well, here is this keris as of today...

Dan, the hilt is facing in the wrong direction in these latest photos. Spin it around 180º.
Nice job on the clean-up so far... :)

Hi Dan. Great results! Great blade -- I just love this type of luk! Congratulations on this fine piece!

Hello Dan,

very nice clean up so far, the wood of the wrongko look very nice, what you use for cleaning? The new hilt you attach is wrong, the original one is matching, why you change it? The sheath type is branggah from Yogya so should use a Yogya hilt.

Regards,

Detlef

I agree with Detlef . :)
The hilt should be Jogja style .
Otherwise, nice ....

Detlef is right. I was focussing on the clean-up and didn't notice this was a different hilt. This is a Surakarta style hilt and doesn't go with the rest of this ensemble. I would think that the hilt that came with this keris should clean up as well as the sheath did.

Don't worry everyone. I have the original hilt, but I found an issue at the last minute that precluded me from using it for the pictures, so I just slapped that one on. I'll take one more when it's done...

Here's the original hilt - it's really not quite ready, but you can see the improvement.

Greybeard - thanks! I feel fortunate to have won this keris!

For cleaning I use a fine grade steel wool and work out all the imperfections, then is use light coat of a very light stain with polyurethane. When that dries I use a high grade wood oil and let that soak in. The results are usually good.

The blade is just pineapple juice, stiff brushes and fine grade steel wool.

Dan, now I'm really tempted to try pinapple juice instead of my usual deluted vinegar -- your results are just too good!

I have to be honest, I'm shocked at the results (plus very pleased)!

Nice job !

I like the mendak. looks almost like suasa :shrug:

I'd say that is unlikely given how tarnished it was at the beginning. More likely copper or brass.

You're right! It's copper...

If I may give a bit of advice as a retired Finisher about your Jogja hilt and scabbards in general .

These urethane/stain combinations are bad for achieving a finish that would be acceptable within the culture .

I would suggest either some form of 'Lac' finish, or failing that , tung or gunstock oil; Watco oil is also an option .

I would strongly advise against using any artificial/plastic formula for finish . :)

Rick,

I am so glad you said something! I liked the way the sheath looked, but, intuitively, something seemed out of place. I need more "live" exposure to kerises. Except for my collection, I've only seen one other keris in person and that was a poor example. This is an easy issue to rectify and I'm going to make it right.

Dan

Okay, I jumped the gun yesterday. A good sized chunk of the original hilt broke off when I tried to attach it to the blade, so I needed to fix it - but I was so excited about the results I couldn't wait to post pictures and I threw on that unmatched hilt.

Well, now the original hilt is repaired and the polyurethane has, for the most part, been removed. This has been a great learning experience - thanks to all!