Keris Oil

[A. G. Maisey]

I've been asked many times what the ingredients are of the keris oil I use.

I've always told people that it is about 50% liquid parafin, 45% sandalwood oil, and 5% kenanga oil.

Sandalwood oil is easy to get anywhere, kenanga oil can be difficult, but its not absolutely necessary and it is available on the essential oils market.

But many people have told me they cannot find liquid parafin anywhere. This has mystified me, because in Australia, this is a supermarket line. You can buy it virtually anywhere.

I have recently been advised that in the USA liquid parafin is known as "mineral oil".

After receiving this advice I did what I should have done a long time ago, and threw liquid parafin into google. Seems like oils ain't oils. Liquid parafin has many names. Have a look at this if you need to know what to call the stuff:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral_oil

[Newsteel]

Baby Oil also contain pure mineral oil and some fragrance. A good example is the good old Johnson's Baby Oil. I guess this will also work as well.

[ferrylaki]

is it all right if I change the composition a little bit larger for the parafin oil?
it is 85% parafin oil, 10% sandalwood oil, and 5% kenanga oil. I have been told that too much sandalwood oil might leave stain to the iron.

How about pure 100% parafin? is it all right?
A friend of mine who is a keris dealer in Rawabening market east jakarta use only 100% parafin to his kerises...economical reason.

[A. G. Maisey]

Yep, that's what the Wiki people say.

I've also used baby oil as keris oil base.Didn't know it contained liquid parafin until I read the wiki entry.

[David]

Alan, i am still having trouble locating kenanga oil. While it is not essential (or hopefull is if you get my pun ) it does add an edge that i am very fond of. On the internet i often see it described as also being ylang ylang oil, but i am sure that while they share a similar source that this is a different oil because ylang ylang tends to be sweet, not edgy. If someone has a good source for kenanga could they please post it?

[A. G. Maisey]

Yeah, lots of people can't find kenanga. It is available from essential oil suppliers in Australia.I know a bloke who runs a pretentious little shop that sells Asian dreams. He sometimes has it, next time I see him I'll ask where he gets it. He might tell me, if its not the wrong time of the month.

The whole point of minyak cendana, or mawar, or anything else, is just for the smell. It doesn't do anything at all for preservation. If preservation is all we're interested in, use a good gun oil--- smells bad, but it works well.

So if you want to cut the proportions of cendana, or cut it out altogether, it really doesn't matter. Ordinary light machine oil is a good preservative too, something like sewing machine oil.

As to sandalwood oil staining the blade, never seen this happen. I've been using my mix now for about 30 years, and I've never seen the warangan go bad because of the oil.

Actually, the best way to preserve your blade is by oiling and then putting the oiled blade into a light plastic sleeve. In Indonesia you can buy rolls of plastic of various widths and thicknesses---its used for making little plastic bags for food, you get it from the plastic shops (toko plastik) ---just cut a length of this and slip the oiled blade into it, then twist it tight around the blade before putting the blade back in the wrongko. Stops the wrongko getting oil stained, stops the oil drying out. Don't know where to buy this stuff in Australia, but plastic sandwich wrap works pretty good too.

[Rick]

David ,

I have four ounces of the stuff (Cananga Odorata); I'll send some your way if you'd like .

[David]

Originally Posted by Rick

David ,

I have four ounces of the stuff (Cananga Odorata); I'll send some your way if you'd like .

Yes please!
Does it have a sharp scent or sweet like ylang ylang? Apparently they are from the same species of plant, though there may be some differences.

[Rick]

It bites the nose a bit .

[lang]

Yeah, it took me forever to figure out that medicinal or liquid paraffin is simply mineral oil.

I get my kenanga oil (aka cananga odorata macrophylla) from Liberty Natural (libertynatural.com) (they list it as cananga indonesia) I also get my sandalwood oil from there too. Because both are concentrated essential oils, I just drop some of each into the mineral oil and I'm good to go (actually any more I just use the sandalwood oil).

FYI, here's a summation of what my research indicated about the difference between ylang ylang and kenanga oil:

"Do not confuse [ylang ylang (Cananga odorata)] with Cananga oil, a more medicinal & less florally odoured oil, which is produced in Java from Cananga odorata subsp macrophylla." http://www.holisticaroma.co.uk/articles/ylang_ylang.php

Cheers,
Joel

[David]

Thanks Joel and welcome to the forum.

[lemmythesmith]

I've been using Japanese choji oil (oil of cloves) and it keeps the rust off, smells nice too!! I might have a change though and try Alan's recipe.

[A. G. Maisey]

According to the wiki mob, Japanese sword oil is liquid parafin mixed with oil of cloves.

I went into shock when I read this.

I'd always thought that Japanese sword oil was pure clove oil.

Looks like it just smells that way.

[kai]

Yes, the Japanese oil is only scented - same approach as with keris oil since pure essential "oils" would evaporate and leave no protection for the blade. Not to mention that your storage room would smell pretty much like a dental clinic...

BTW, the regular (expensive) sandalwood oil is already heavily diluted with some base oil (wether with mineral oil or some plant/edible oil may depend on your source). Really pure essential sandalwood oil is terribly expensive but offers the advantage that you really know what's in your customized mix...

Regards,
Kai

[lang]

Originally Posted by David

Thanks Joel and welcome to the forum.

Thanks David - I noticed that my only two posts are both about keris oil ingredients - I'll try to be more diverse in the future, at least as far as my meager knowledge will allow!