WHICH SUNDANG?

[ganjawulung]

Originally Posted by kai

I'm fairly sure the scabbard is a replacement done on Java/Madura. Can you narrow down it's age from craftmanship and material?
Regards,
Kai

Me too, Kai, I'm pretty sure this scabbard is a replacement, maybe much later. The craftmanship, it is more central javanese scabbard than maduran. Not too old "timoho" (kleinhovia hospita) wood... You may see the bottom of the blade too (from the picture), that the form of "sirah cecak" (bottom face of the ganja) is not typically javanese. You may compare with any javanese "sirah cecak"...

Originally Posted by rasdan

I think this method would give with different effect/result with different iron. Anyhow, thanks again for your kind explanation.

Yes, totally agree Rasdan. You must extra carefully monitor the result of ageing, time to time, in order the blade not to be totally corroded by the "kamalan".

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Here are a few questions.
1)--- what style is followed by the ricikan of this blade?
2)--- is the erosion of the greneng in harmony with the erosion shown between pamor and the steel core?
3)--- what method was used to produce the greneng?
4)--- does filler exist between the gonjo and the blade?
5)--- where do we find this particular pamor very frequently used?
6)--- why do we find this blade in a poorly made Javanese scabbard and with a pedang handle?
The answers to these questions may assist in a determination of exactly what we are looking at here.
Pity we don't have a time machine.

Thanks for guiding this discussion in positive way, Alan. All I can answer is just speculation. I think this 'sundang' is mistreated in the past, maybe by the former owner or dealer. They treated the sundang as if they treated javanese blade -- they "mutih" the blade, and soaked the blade to warangan liquid, and made the blade corroded. Most sundang I've seen in Jawa was treated like this -- corroded by kamalan, before being soaked into warangan. The mistreatment also happen in almost every Sumatran keris in Jawa -- treated like javanese blades, and being soaked into warangan...