Bugis keris unusual blade/help wanted
 

Dear All,

I bought this keris in Bugis dress.
The blade seems to be Ganja Iras on first sight and seems to be single steel/iron.
But the ganja shows some forging lines that indicates it is a separate ganja.

Further, what origin would this blade be ?
Any suggestions for cleaning etching the blade ?

Thanks and best regards,
Willem

Ps. I took the pictures with my girlfriends expensive 'Canon' camera and put them on a memory stick. Much better than my old 'trust' camera. :)

Hello Willem,

Yes, definitely separate ganja. Very graceful lines, congrats!

Make sure to completely clean the blade first if you really want to etch this blade. If at all, I'd opt for non-warangan staining (e.g. hot vinegar or something similar resulting in a low contrast pamor). Make sure that you don't overdo the etching since the metal has been traditionally kept smooth on this piece - IMO these look horrible with a Javanese finish.

Regards,
Kai

Hi asomotif,

Congratulation for having such nice and 'graceful' keris. It got well-executed fullers and overall it does look sweet.

However I doubt this is a bugis. Yours is a keris melayu (Malay keris) from the Malaysian peninsular region. Specifically which region, I am not able to tell. Maybe our fellow friends can assist.

The sampir is made from ketengga wood and the batang is from sena (angsana) wood.

I agree that this piece is of North East Peninsular origin - Trengganu is my best bet (well, Riau is my 2nd bet) :)

Thank you for the info.

I will take some time to careful clean it and see if careful etching brings some more details in the blade.

Thanks and best regards,
Willem

This is not a Peninsula keris. It is a Sumatran keris, probably from some region along the Eastern coast. The sampir is not made from Ketenga wood; but I don't know what wood it is.

The hilt form, the pendoko and the shape of the sampir are Sumatran forms.

The blade is also too 'fat' to be a peninsula keris.

Dear Bluerf,

Interesting.
Personally I have not much knowledge on the various blade forms.
Unless they are very clear and according to the book dapurs like for instance Balinese keris.

This hilt form is here in the Netherlands always assumed to be Buginese.

The scabbard is recently made, so it might be not the traditional wood sort.

I have stained th eblade yesterday with some lemonjuice.
Will post some pictures later.

best regards,
Willem

lemon juice bath
 

Well after soaking in lemon juice it got cleaner.
But to me that is just about it.

Hello Willem,

I can understand the confusion over the forms. I struggled for years to learn and differentiate the different forms. In fact, I still do get baffled every now and then by the various forms.

The Bugis influence in these kerises are evident, whether they're from the Peninsula or Sumatra. However, there are subtle differences which are consistent enough to differentiate between the regions. Of course, there are always the oddballs that appear every so often.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to 'tell' you easily what these differences are, at least not without showing you the physical forms. I asked the same questions myself when I started out and was rather frustrated that the seniors could not effectively articulate the differences to me. Now I find myself in the same position. :D

I have very little expertise in the correct classification of keris from outside Jawa, but when I first looked at the photos of this keris the general "feeling" I had from it was Sumatra. The way in which the blade has been made, the pendongkok, the atasan of the wrongko, to me these all say "Sumatra" but they do not even whisper anything else.

Blu Erf has much more experience with these types of keris than I do, and if he casts his vote for Sumatra, that combined with my own feeling is sufficient to cause me to go along the same track.