Restaining kris?
 

I hope this is within the rules of the forum.

It seems I have a few krisses that could come out nicely of a staining. I have no intention of doing this myself. Does anyone know where I can have this done with a good quality?

Regards, Erik

Well Erik, you do live in The Netherlands which is sorta the "Disneyland of Keris" outside of Indonesia. ;) :)
I am not sure who can do the work for you there, but it seems extremely likely that someone near you can. I am sure one of you countrymen will contact you soon in a PM. :)

Hi Eric, I don't know how is the quality, but I think there you also can get help: http://www.geocities.com/keris4u/
Regards,
sajen

I don't think it is so much a question of quality as i am sure that Adni would do a fine job. But that would require Erik shipping all his keris to Singapore. It seems that there must be someone capable of doing this for him somewhere in The Netherlands were keris collecting has be going one for centuries. :shrug:
I also think that it might be better to send your suggestion directly to Erik via PM unless someone is offing him a free service. :)

For those in Singapore, if your blade is worth the effort, I'll do it for free. ;) Especially now, during the Muslim month of Muharram, where for a few of us, we find it is a good time to service our keris blades. :D

That's great to know Shahrial, and a wonderful service to offer. Too bad i live half way around the world or i might take you up on the offer. :)
Of course, there is something to be said for learning to do it yourself and in many ways i quite enjoy the experience even when my results have been less than perfect. Though at least i can say that i have always left a keris looking better than i found it. :D

Many thanks for the kind offer Alam Shah!
Will first look for someone in the Netherlands though who might be able to do this for me!

Regards, Erik

staining in NL
 

Hello Erik,

Look on www.dekris.nl. This is the very recently started site from the dutch keris knowledge club... Or whatever tot call it. Several members stain keris. I think if you put your question there they will help you.

greetings Ron

David, is there anyone around here that does that? I mean stains keris?

Well Ron, i've been known to do my own, but i don't generally do it as a service since i hardly feel that my skills are of a professional quality. :o :)

Hi Spunjer,

why don't try it byself? You will find here several threads where it is described how to do it. :)

Regards,

Detlef

lol, that's cool. as you may well know, this is not my area, but every now and then i do come across a keris or two. just wanna know where i could take it to bring out the pamor...

Ron, if you just want to see the pamor pattern you can clean up the blade --- heaps on this in various threads --- and then hit it with ferric chloride, same stuff knife makers use to stain damascus, and used to etch electrical circuit boards.

A proper stain job becomes a bit more difficult, because you need to be able to get hold of some laboratory quality white arsenic ( arsenic tri-oxide), and some fresh limes.

However, if you want to pay somebody to do it in a western country, you could be looking at paying more than the blade is worth.

I've been staining blades since I was a kid, and I've had instruction from some of the best m'ranggi in Central Jawa. I have spent as long as several days in staining just one blade. The method I use is the same one that is used on high quality blades, it is not the quick mass production method, but my way of doing it is the only really practical one if you want to do just the occasional blade and you want a good, solid, long lasting finish.

Now, if you've got to pay somebody to do that job, even at a very low hourly rate, its going to cost money.

There might be a few people around who are still learning, and who are prepared to do the job for free, or charge just sufficient to cover expenses, so that they can gain experience, but really, it is best to try to do it yourself.

Sajen and Alan, thank you... i've thought about it and actually searched the archive regarding this topic, and what i've read so far, i thought i'd better leave it to the more experienced before i ended screwing it all up. screwing up as in not coming out the way i've seen here. with that said, i'll give it a try on this most recent one i've picked up.

Ron, with staining it doesn't matter if you make a mess of it, because you can just clean it off and start again.

One of the keris I made myself, I spent more than 3 days on. I was not going to be satisfied with anything less than perfection.

I reckon I must have cleaned it off with steel wool and powder sink cleaner (Ajax) at least 10 times before I got a result that could not be improved on.

Lol, thanks for the confidence, Alan. I've etched countless moro and filipino swords, some came out excellent while others turned out not so good. My guess is it should be the same process, no? All i've got on hand are white vinegar and FeCl.. i'll see what happens

Ron, if all you need is to see the pattern, ferric chloride is quite OK, and takes about 5 minutes. I've done literally hundreds of mechanical damascus blades, and if you've used the stuff previously, its easy.

Doing a proper, high quality, traditional stain on a keris blade is a totally different ball of wool.

On an old, previously stained blade, it might only take an hour or even less, on a newly made blade, a recent blade, a blade that has required intensive cleaning, a blade with a complex pamor, a blade with unusual pamor material --- and other unmentioned conditions --- the time used to achieve a satisfactory result can amount to quite a bit. I usually allow a day per blade, and hope it won't run into more. If you want a perfect result, then it is definitely going to take longer, maybe a lot longer.