touching up a blade with gun blue pen

[A. G. Maisey]

Very wise I think.

[milandro]

while I thank you again for your to-the-point answer ( and by the way , methinks that there are plenty of metallurgic points made in several threads that I’ve read, as for example about on how to etch blades ) I have learned to appreciate and perhaps even love this blade.

I like the way the light catches and reflects on this spot, it goes from light to deep dark, as you move the kris creating a very vivid effect.

Intended or not it lives now, and it lives with me. I have abandoned any retouching desire. there is , of course, no account for taste and I have no doubt that people will disagree

[David]

Originally Posted by milandro

( and by the way , methinks that there are plenty of metallurgic points made in several threads that I’ve read, as for example about on how to etch blades )

I believe that you may have misinterpreted what i was saying in regards to "head scratching". Of course we have discussed metallurgic points in many threads on this forum. And i wasn't suggesting that no one could help answer your question here (and Alan Maisey is probably the most well informed amongst us to do so). The head scratching i was referring to is why you would want to cover this area of nickel up in the first place. Especially if it was accidental instead of intentional. Accidental pamors in keris would be considered "Acts of God". Not something i would image any Indonesian keris owner would choose to mess with.

[milandro]

I am very much aware of the way people over there look at these things and , in fact , you may remember my quote in another thread

Originally Posted by milandro

...
I understand that a western blacksmith would chuck the blade BUT an Indonesian empuh probably, beside not throwing away some work done, he probably thinks that the process is only partly in his hands and that he is rather the instruments of a superior being that through him creates the blade and maks it inhabited by a spirit and gives the blade its properties....
.

[A. G. Maisey]

Milandro, there is usually a wide gap between what a craftsman might think, and what the general public might think.

In the case of the crafts associated with the keris, this gap seems to me to be inordinately wide.

[David]

Originally Posted by milandro

I am very much aware of the way people over there look at these things and , in fact , you may remember my quote in another thread

Nope, i'm afraid i don't remember that quote from another thread, but i am glad you are aware of this.

[David]

This keris has gone back up for sale so i am closing this thread for the time being.