A keris, at last.

[David R]

Hi there I am new on this section of the forum. I an an "ethnic" collector rather than a Keris collector, but wanted one for a long time. I have had a few of these over the years but never managed to keep them, and then for a long time never saw one I liked in my price range, 'till today. Bought at a fair a couple of hours ago, here it is just as I got it. Information and advice gratefully recieved.

[David]

Well David, that's a bit of a project for you, isn't it. The dress here is pretty low rent and in pretty bad condition. I do kind of like the blade though. There are numerous threads in our archives on etching and staining these blades and this one seems a candidate for both. If nothing else you will want to get that rust under control.
As for the dress, i wouldn't know how to repair the stem of this sheath other than replace it completely. If the keris looks decent after cleaning and staining i might consider having a whole new sheath made. Otherwise, i don't know what your skill set is, but making a new gandar (stem) for the sheath would probably be the easiest part of it to re-do. If the blade fits well in the wrongko (top sheath) this might be a good option. The hilt isn't a very good example of the planar hilt, but it's not too difficult to find a better example on eBay for a reasonable amount of money.

[David R]

As you say, low rent and battered, but the blade not too bad. For the price I paid, I am not upset.
At this same fair one dealer had a large box full of wooden keris hilts, which he is intending to bring to the next one, along with other pieces of keris. It seems he bought a lot of bits and some even more worn keris from a collecter or dealer, but did not have much in the way of complete pieces. I resisted buying any until I knew a bit more about the subject being unsure as to how far I may legitimately go in replacing bits. I would like a new collar for this one though.
My next step is to haunt this forum until I have a better idea of what I am about.

[Henk]

I agree with David about the blade. Stop the rust and if possible stain it.

For the dress. I simply love the simplicity. Keep it this way. Clean it and polish it. IMHO a very nice simple keris. Love it!!

[David]

....oh, and the proper orienation for that hilt form is 180º in the opposite direction...

[Sajen]

Hello David,

it seems that you have a nice strong blade, dapur seems to be Jalak Ruwuh. Would like to see it proper stained. The cross piece of the sheath is not bad, when the fit of the blade is good I would keep it and clean it with very fine steel wool and then rub it with flax oil. The gandar, like David pointed out, isn't original and I would try to replace it. A better hilt and I think you have a nice keris.

Regards,

Detlef

[David R]

Thank you everyone, this is why I came to this forum. I wondered about the hilt orientation, and if it is not the original I may very well rplace it, and will certainly get it turned the right way round.
The blade has had it's first clean and oil already. I am studying whether I can repair the sheath, or will need to replace part of it. The upper portion does fit the blade ok, so probably best I keep it.

[A. G. Maisey]

Not a bad old keris. Not bad at all, and all perfectly fixable.

The blade appears to Surakarta:- ron dha, blumbangan boto adeg, ada-ada, + the curve of the ganja

To fix the gandar --- that's the part of the scabbard that accommodates the blade--- thin down the edges of the break on the inside, and use a very thin, ie, paper thin, piece of wood to fit into the hole inside the gandar, it must be a neat, close fit, shaved down bambu is good to do this with, then glue it into place with 5 minute araldite. You can run a thread through a couple of little holes to provide a handle, and then you use this to hold the bambu in place until the glue sets, then you just pull the thread out. Let the glue joint cure, then use a plastic putty tinted with burnt umber powder to fill the depression, overfill and sand back smooth. Any other little splits and gaps that might be in it can be filled with tinted plastic putty or tinted araldite. Separate the gandar from the atasan --- top part--- before you start.

Sand, fill, polish, and then use Scandinavian Oil or similar to finish it, bring the oil finish up to a high gloss with a few coats, then gently rub back with 0000 steel wool to give it a subdued finish.

To refit the gandar make sure the tongues of the gandar are clean and the mating surface inside the atasan is clean, score the mating surfaces, make a wedge that will hold the mating surfaces tight together when put in place through the mouth of the atasan, use 5 minute araldite for the adhesive. If you want a traditional adhesive, use button shellac, but this is a weak adhesive and you'll be constantly re-doing it. Align the atasan and gandar by putting the blade into the scabbard when you have the glued surfaces in place, then carefully remove the blade without altering the alignment and put the wedge in place. Use silicon car polish for a release agent., clean the blade with mineral turps. If you need to pack the gandar tongues to get a tight fit it is best use build up paper thin slices of bambu with araldite and then make one final , tiny adjustment with a very sharp knife.

The hilt is rough, but a hand rub with baby oil will make it look 100% better than it is.

Like I said, its all 100% fixable, and it will restore very well.

An easy way to do the scabbard would be simply to buy a pendok for it, but it seems you like old villagey stuff, and the restored gandar will give you this better than a pendok will.

[Sajen]

Hello Alan,

I am not sure that the gandar is the original one for the atasan, have a look at the second picture posted by David. It seems to small for the atasan.

Regards,

Detlef

[A. G. Maisey]

Detlef, when we are dealing with low quality, village type dress we can find almost anything in the way dress is put together. Village people would often make dress themselves, or buy bits and pieces from a market, new, used, and assemble it themselves. Fit of gandar to atasan did not/does not need to be good because the thing is a dress item, and the joint cannot be seen when it is put in place in the setagen ( the sash around the waist where the scabbard is worn)
David R. clearly likes rather rustic things, he ID's himself as an "ethnic" collector, which in my experience means people like the stuff that still smells of cooking smoke. If I'm right about David R.'s preferences, then he's best to restore this scabbard as is, but if he wants to upgrade it to something that the vast majority of keris collectors prefer he should simply buy a new pendok and forget what's underneath it.

[Henk]

I completely agree here with Alan. David, just follow Alan's instructions. You won't regret it. Also the ukiran (hilt) is perfect and good for this dress. Don't replace it. But as David mentioned turn it 180 degrees.
This is such a lovely village made keris. I really like these.

[David R]

Hi everyone and again thanks for all the advice. The break in the gandar I intend to repair by putting in a new piece of wood, cutting away the broken edge to give me a clean join. I am considering making a complete new toe to the gandar, a buntut? in horn or ebony.
The urikan has been glued in place by a previous owner, so next job is to deal with that, and then I can clean the blade properly and turn the hilt to it's proper position.
I am toying with the idea of a pendok, but not too sure....I do wonder, even suspect it might have had one before that has been nicked. The only piece I really want to replace is the mendak, the one it has now looks to be a sad piece of stamped or spun brass, possibly not even a mendak originaly.
And that will be it, apart from getting the blade decently cleaned and stained. Oh, and oiling and polishing the wood. I use a mix of 2 parts real turpentine (artists quality) to 1 part artists quality linseed oil, the traditional English gunstock finish.

[A. G. Maisey]

David, its your keris, and of course you can do with it as you will, however, my advice would be:-

the join between the wood of the gandar and the infill should be irregular and of a darker colour, it would be possible to do a neat edge to edge infill, but it would be a very weak joint and in time it will separate; by feathering the edges of both the infill and the gandar hole and using araldite or similar a stronger bond could be achieved, however, in Jawa this hole would be repaired as I originally suggested, but it would be repaired with one of a number of different infill materials, rather than plastic putty, the plastic putty gives a better and more convincing finish than does the materials used in Jawa. What you are trying to achieve is a repair that looks like variation in the wood, a la timoho.

Javanese gandars do not usually use a buntut, when it is used it is simply a contrasting piece of wood joined very neatly to the foot of the gandar, this is occasionally done for artistic effect on artistic or high class keris, it would be 100% incorrect on this keris. I've noted the hole in the toe of the gandar, this is not uncommon in Javanese keris, when it is desired to fill it, it is usually filled with a slightly oversize wooden plug that is then shaped to a harmonious contour.

the handle is probably not glued, it is more likely to be held firm because of corrosion (rust) that has penetrated the cloth or hair packing used to hold it in place, there has been a lot written in these pages on freeing up a stuck keris hilt, possibly one of our better organised people here may be able to direct you to the relevant threads. If it is glued, the same methods will free it.

yes, it is entirely possible it might have once had a pendok, I feel it would restore to a more authentic finish without one, but if you do need one, PM me.

linseed oil and turps is a wonderful finish for gunstocks --- I used to make gunstocks in my misspent youth, and my father was a fine art cabinet maker, I do understand this finish--- the trad English gunstock finish was developed to permit exposure of the wood to inclement weather, we do not need this type of finish for a keris. The traditional Javanese finish is french polish, but on dress of a lower quality the finish is usually completely lacking, or perhaps only a bit of beeswax has been used. To achieve a good seal to the timber and a subdued, realistic look that does not obscure the wood grain, rubbed down Scandinavian oil is very effective. There is a problem with the name, because different manufacturers use different formulas, some use a combination of tung oil and linseed, some are just turps and linseed, others use urethanes as driers, some are all polyurethanes. I use Feast Watson which is a blend of polyurethane oils and waxes, this is an Australian company, I do not know the equivalent of their products in other countries. Its probably not a bad idea to use some good furniture wax after the finish has dried thoroughly.
Another really good product to finish a scabbard with is Birchwood Casey Truoil. This contains linseed and other unidentified products which I guess are probably driers. It brings out grain beautifully and after several very thin coats can be rubbed back to a subdued finish.
There are a number of problems with linseed oil and the old trad hand rubbed finish, some are short term, like the slow drying and the need to work on a finish for a very long time at spaced intervals to get what you want, the other is the tendency of a trad linseed finish to go mouldy in humid weather.
These days there are simply much better products available that will give you a better, more durable and easier to maintain finish.

the mendak is a perfect match to this keris, it should not be replaced.

[David R]

Got the grip off without damage, Three-in-one oil by the tang and used the candle trick I also put it ,well wrapped with clingfilm, in the freezer for a few hours, and that did the trick. Not glued, but the tang was well wrapped with a coarse plant fibre string which had rusted in place.