A Keris for slashing...

[David]

Originally Posted by mrwizard

Hello David,

I already expected that someone would use this opportunity to push me again in the direction of dressing this keris properly

But there might be a problem doing this. The pesi of this keris is 113mm (4.4'') long. This might be the actual reason why the wooden piece was added in the first place. Finding a proper hilt (or a very large mendak) of this size might take a while...
Until then the keris will keep its silly and well worn dress

Of course, i'm well aware that a keris is not a slashing weapon. But the fittings and the weight of this keris almost encourage everyone who holds it in his hand to slash at something. And obviously someone did...
The title "a keris for slashing" was meant as a pun (slashing instead of sharing).

Wow, that is a rather long pesi. It is, in fact, unlikely that you will find a Jawa Demam that would fit on such a long tang. Again, perhaps some of our Malaysian collectors have a viable option.
Frankly i'm not trying to push you in any particular direction. It's your keris to be dress how ever you see fit. But i am fairly certain that it was never intended to have a hilt set up like this no matter how long the pesi is and i would image it was probably devised by a colonial rather than a native.
I brought up the slashing not so much because of your title, but because mention of slashing with this keris was also repeated later in the thread. I'm not convinced that the edge damage was done by slashing, though it is possible. Even with the added piece i would think that slashing would do more damage to the pesi than the edge.