Surakarta Keris 3 luk

[Pendita65]

This keris I bought recently and again with a missing angkup and mendak but I do like the wilah with it slender form and 3 luk.
This blade is on the list for a wash with Warangan. I cleaned the blade with citric acid and I think it came out rather good. I need to find out what wilah form it is and what kind of pamor. The book Keris Jawa I checked but I didn’t find a similar form.
Hope to learn from the experts on the forum.

Thanks and regards,

Martin

[A. G. Maisey]

The form looks like a tilam upih with 3 luk, whether the three luk are original or a later modification, I cannot know with any certainty, however the narrow blade & lack of erosion to the wadidang does seem to point to a modification.

How long is the blade, measured from the top of the gonjo to the point?

I cannot read the pamor or if there is any pamor, but I can see metal grain, I feel that this might turn out to be a pamor sanak blade.

[Pendita65]

Hello Mr. Maisey,

thank you for your reply, and the length of the Keris till gonjo is 34 cm and i guess it is in inches 1,338

When i look at the grain or pamor i can see a curvy line close to the edges of the keris arround 2 a 3 mm. then in the middle small Islands of amorf forms that have contrast and relief to the steel of the Keris. and are connected by lightly curvy lines in between them. I am curious when it will get it's wash how it all turns out. I can't really see tool marks on the Keris it's edge.

We will see, to be continued.

Regards, Martin

[A. G. Maisey]

Martin, if a blade is dressed correctly --- by "dressed" I mean physical imperfections removed --- we would not expect to see tool marks, & this redressing would also explain the lack of erosion at the wadidang, the exposure of core material is expected.

The blade has been dressed, or if we wish "cleaned up".

The waves are very shallow, so they would not have taken much from the original length, at its present length it is still well within acceptable dimensions for a Javanese keris.

If you do give it a proper stain, make absolutely dead certain that you get the material completely white before you begin, and do not over-do the stain.

To get a blade dead white we use abu gosok in Jawa, that's burnt wood ash that is used to polish cooking utensils, at home I use our western world equivalent, powder sink cleaner. Abu gosok is used in combination with coconut husk.

You might or might not get a contrasting pamor, & I would expect that even if the pamor does contrast, it will not be high contrast, but rather grayish.

[Pendita65]

Thank you Mr Maisey,

Kitchen sink cleaner is the white powder that is used to scrub the sink, I think we used to call it Vim it has bleach in it and sometimes citrus smell?
We will see how it turns out the fitting in the warangka is very good and it’s a pity the angkup is missing.

I was attracted to this Keris as it had that slender form and shallow luk. And it had age to it. It was brought from Indonesia early thirties according to the lady who sold it to me. Her grandfather was in Indonesia during the thirties as a soldier from the KNIL.

Regards, Martin