I’ve just found some videos on warangan making and using

[jagabuwana]

Ah I see, thanks Milandro.
This method seems very... elaborate.

[milandro]

It would be very nice that someone would make a video comparing the etching of a kris blad with the sulphur method to a warangan




I don’t have any personal experience with any method but these seem to be the only videos available in English which give any information on the process.

Since there are many questions about etching blades I thought of posting it here.

There are, probably, many ways to do this and I understand from the person whom etches my blades (not connected to the author of the video) that there are different formulations and that they are used for different metals too.

Most people's perspective would change if one may be able to compare this to more (or even less I suspect) orthodox videos in local languages

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8XHSy1JcM4&t=423s

this (without any words) seems to promote some particular product

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNyQCIeHxYM

this for example explains (apparently) how to overcome the problems from a faded warangan... unfortunately it is is incomprehensible to me

[jagabuwana]

Originally Posted by milandro

It would be very nice that someone would make a video comparing the etching of a kris blad with the sulphur method to a warangan

Milandro, you may want to see this post for a line up of stained blades, one of which has been stained with the sulphur method. It may show you a good comparison.

There is also this blade that I stained using the sulphur, salt and rice water method. You may use this method and result to compare.

A hypothesis has been made on the latter post that the sulphur stain method may yield a better result on blades which have been stained with arsenic in the past, compared to those that have never been stained with arsenic before.

[milandro]

Originally Posted by jagabuwana

Milandro, you may want to see this post for a line up of stained blades, one of which has been stained with the sulphur method. It may show you a good comparison.

There is also this blade that I stained using the sulphur, salt and rice water method. You may use this method and result to compare.

A hypothesis has been made on the latter post that the sulphur stain method may yield a better result on blades which have been stained with arsenic in the past, compared to those that have never been stained with arsenic before.

Thank you really very much about this.

I will certainly give the Sulphur method a go since it seems to be certainly way less complex than the warangan method and the results are very good (as shown form you very useful post).

since you’ve done that with success.

I was wandering what the exact function of rice water is? Is it just to form a gelatinous support to incorporate a sort of suspension of salt and sulphur and adhere to the blade?


I will certainly have a go using your formula and method. I have just the right candidate although I don’t know how good a pamor there is (not much is showing at the moment) .


If this works I may apply also to some other blades that I have or may have in future. Thank you very much!

[David]

Originally Posted by jagabuwana

Milandro, you may want to see this post for a line up of stained blades, one of which has been stained with the sulphur method. It may show you a good comparison.

I believe that while this is indeed an interesting line up of blades stained with different method we must be careful about how we view it for "comparison" purposes. Keep in mind that even with consistent methods applied, different irons will not all respond in the same manner to the same staining method. They will yield various colours when stained dependent upon the iron used. This is why a properly stained blade can be more easily read in terms of tangguh because different eras used different types of iron which will produce different colours when stained. So the colour can be one possible clue as to what era the blade was produced in. At least that is my understanding.

[A. G. Maisey]

I agree with your understanding David.

But what can be read from a properly stained blade goes further than just the characteristics of the iron.

Once the blade has been stained we can also determine the characteristics of the pamor and the way in which it has been worked. Additionally we can identify the existence & extent of the heat treatment (sepuhan). More than this, we can also fairly easily identify any repairs that might have been carried out on the blade during its life.

[Bob A]

Has anyone considered or actually used antimony trioxide in place of arsenic trioxide for the purpose of staining keris?

From what I can cursorily discover, it is considerably less toxic than the arsenic compound, though of course not without risk.

[milandro]

despite what anyone may think of the videos and the maker, they remain onde of the few sources of VISUAL information, here is a video on how to understand some of the problems with warangan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK9ISHUNj_w