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Old 15th October 2012, 09:59 PM   #8
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
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Not a bad old keris. Not bad at all, and all perfectly fixable.

The blade appears to Surakarta:- ron dha, blumbangan boto adeg, ada-ada, + the curve of the ganja

To fix the gandar --- that's the part of the scabbard that accommodates the blade--- thin down the edges of the break on the inside, and use a very thin, ie, paper thin, piece of wood to fit into the hole inside the gandar, it must be a neat, close fit, shaved down bambu is good to do this with, then glue it into place with 5 minute araldite. You can run a thread through a couple of little holes to provide a handle, and then you use this to hold the bambu in place until the glue sets, then you just pull the thread out. Let the glue joint cure, then use a plastic putty tinted with burnt umber powder to fill the depression, overfill and sand back smooth. Any other little splits and gaps that might be in it can be filled with tinted plastic putty or tinted araldite. Separate the gandar from the atasan --- top part--- before you start.

Sand, fill, polish, and then use Scandinavian Oil or similar to finish it, bring the oil finish up to a high gloss with a few coats, then gently rub back with 0000 steel wool to give it a subdued finish.

To refit the gandar make sure the tongues of the gandar are clean and the mating surface inside the atasan is clean, score the mating surfaces, make a wedge that will hold the mating surfaces tight together when put in place through the mouth of the atasan, use 5 minute araldite for the adhesive. If you want a traditional adhesive, use button shellac, but this is a weak adhesive and you'll be constantly re-doing it. Align the atasan and gandar by putting the blade into the scabbard when you have the glued surfaces in place, then carefully remove the blade without altering the alignment and put the wedge in place. Use silicon car polish for a release agent., clean the blade with mineral turps. If you need to pack the gandar tongues to get a tight fit it is best use build up paper thin slices of bambu with araldite and then make one final , tiny adjustment with a very sharp knife.

The hilt is rough, but a hand rub with baby oil will make it look 100% better than it is.

Like I said, its all 100% fixable, and it will restore very well.

An easy way to do the scabbard would be simply to buy a pendok for it, but it seems you like old villagey stuff, and the restored gandar will give you this better than a pendok will.
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