Dent removal on silver ferule (barung)

[JeffS]

Originally Posted by RobT

JeffS,

Very good job indeed. I would love to hear about your methods.

Sincerely,
RobT

I started by removing the handle and ferule. This was done by clamping blade in padded vice and applying a heat gun to base of the blade until the resin softened enough to pull the handle off. It takes a couple minutes for the resin to soften. I then did an initial clean with 150 grit sandpaper and then followed with 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1200 leaving the pits but getting enough polish to pick up a light pattern with a diluted vinegar dip. The tip was straightened, as described above, before the vinegar bath. I polished the ferule and straightened the dent as advised here. For the handle, I used boiled linseed oil going for a simple "user" matte finish. Much of the binding resin had been lost over the years so I needed to add new resin. For this I used some resin sticks (photo below) I recently picked up in North Kalamtan from a remote Dayak community. They appear to be hand rolled like a cigarette with wrapping material around the resin. I cut pieces and dropped into the handle recess and then heated the tang with a torch and plunged the hot tang into the recess. The resin quickly melted, I topped up with some more pieces, melted with heat gun, and tamped down with rounded tip of a toothbrush handle.