Keris in need of TLC

A. G. Maisey · 22nd May 2023, 01:27 PM

You might be right about the use of plastic sleeves Milandro, but I guess it all comes back to individual standards & objectives.

My own objective in respect of blade preservation is that once I have cleaned and stained a blade I want to put it away for as long as I need or wish, and expect come back to it in 5, ten or twenty years & find a perfectly preserved blade with no corrosion present.

This result can be achieved by use of my recommended procedure.

On the other hand, a blade of ferric material can develop corrosion in a very short period, say 6 months or less, if it is left in contact with wood.

The museums where I have assisted staff have kept keris & other blades in climate controlled rooms, removed from scabbards, and resting on glass. These have been Australian museums.

I have also examined keris and other bladed weapons in European museums, and in the European museums where I have had the opportunity to examine their holdings I have found that the conditions in which their bladed weapons are held are absolutely terrible, no attempt had been made to prevent corrosion, and sometimes keris were so badly corroded that they could not be removed from their scabbards.

There are very good reasons for this failure to conserve & protect public property, but that is another matter.

The simple, inarguable fact is that ferric material left in contact with wood or cloth will rust, if we do not want it to rust we must protect it.

I live in south east Australia, which is a temperate zone, I am 25 metres from a salt water lake, if I do not wish my quite considerable collection of bladed weapons to deteriorate I must protect them, plastic sleeving & oil is a cheap & simple way to do this.

For around 20 years I lived in a different part of Australia that had low humidity, even here I found that continued contact of a steel blade with wood was capable of generating corrosion.

If one has only a few bladed weapons and enjoys handling them continually, then it is probably no big problem to ensure that every item is examined every few weeks, cleaned & returned to display or storage, but if one has several hundred, or perhaps several thousand bladed weapons, this continual examination is not really an option.

As I have said:- it all comes down to one's objectives & expectations.

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22nd May 2023, 01:27 PM	#4
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,991	You might be right about the use of plastic sleeves Milandro, but I guess it all comes back to individual standards & objectives. My own objective in respect of blade preservation is that once I have cleaned and stained a blade I want to put it away for as long as I need or wish, and expect come back to it in 5, ten or twenty years & find a perfectly preserved blade with no corrosion present. This result can be achieved by use of my recommended procedure. On the other hand, a blade of ferric material can develop corrosion in a very short period, say 6 months or less, if it is left in contact with wood. The museums where I have assisted staff have kept keris & other blades in climate controlled rooms, removed from scabbards, and resting on glass. These have been Australian museums. I have also examined keris and other bladed weapons in European museums, and in the European museums where I have had the opportunity to examine their holdings I have found that the conditions in which their bladed weapons are held are absolutely terrible, no attempt had been made to prevent corrosion, and sometimes keris were so badly corroded that they could not be removed from their scabbards. There are very good reasons for this failure to conserve & protect public property, but that is another matter. The simple, inarguable fact is that ferric material left in contact with wood or cloth will rust, if we do not want it to rust we must protect it. I live in south east Australia, which is a temperate zone, I am 25 metres from a salt water lake, if I do not wish my quite considerable collection of bladed weapons to deteriorate I must protect them, plastic sleeving & oil is a cheap & simple way to do this. For around 20 years I lived in a different part of Australia that had low humidity, even here I found that continued contact of a steel blade with wood was capable of generating corrosion. If one has only a few bladed weapons and enjoys handling them continually, then it is probably no big problem to ensure that every item is examined every few weeks, cleaned & returned to display or storage, but if one has several hundred, or perhaps several thousand bladed weapons, this continual examination is not really an option. As I have said:- it all comes down to one's objectives & expectations.