In search of pure Indian sandalwood oil that is reasonable

[Ganapati]

Hello please help


I'm looking for 100% pure Indian Sandalwood oil to mix with some other oi for my keris. Do you know of any reputable source that is reasonably priced. I find that most Sandalwood oils are fake or blended. Also what other oil would you blend it with to coat kerises thank you very much.

[JustYS]

Hi Ganapati,

I've used these two oils: Singer oil and Western Australia Sandalwood (Santalum Spicatum 100% pure). So far it is still reasonable since my collection is small (less than 10) and I've only used 10-12 drops to be mixed with the Singer oil.

Best Regards,

YS

[Anthony G.]

Originally Posted by Ganapati

Hello please help


I'm looking for 100% pure Indian Sandalwood oil to mix with some other oi for my keris. Do you know of any reputable source that is reasonably priced. I find that most Sandalwood oils are fake or blended. Also what other oil would you blend it with to coat kerises thank you very much.

Hi

Try this source, they source it from India apparently.

[kai]

I'm with YS: Start with good quality sandalwood essential oil and some drops get you a long way.

Note that most commercial sandalwood oils are already heavily diluted with any kind of base oil with just bits of pure sandalwood essential oil or even artificial sandalwood essential oil added. Actually, artificial may nowadays be good enough for our purposes. If you're fine eating artificial flavors (and I know of only very, very few people who are really consequently avoiding any artificial flavors!), one might well argue that this might be legit, too...

Because the oil used for diluting sandalwood essential oil may vary widely (from local palm oil to mineral oils) including different qualities resulting in differences of stability possibly affecting storage (natural oils will get rancid and release acids which will affect steel as well as get sticky), I'm opting for a high quality paraffin/mineral oil (sewing machine oils from known companies are a good bet) plus a bit of pure sandalwood essential oil (a trustworthy supplier with sustainable use policy is more important than geographic origin); adding a bit of traditional kenanga essential oil gives additional odour (not widely available though: nice to have - not mandatory).

Keris blades can get pre-treated with water-displacing oils like WD40 (especially during drying steps) and "cleaning" oils (gun oils, etc.). Once fully done and after patting off any excess oil, adding a bit of the "perfume" oil mix and wrapping the blades in plastic foil goes a long way.

Regards,
Kai

[kai]

Here's Alan's recipe: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...33&postcount=8

Originally Posted by Alan

The blades of my keris are oiled with a keris oil that is made of 50% medicinal parrafin, 45% sandalwood oil, and 5% kenanga oil.

From keris I received from him, I guess that Alan's sandalwood oil is the diluted version; with my mix, I'm closer to 5% sandalwood essential oil. This may also be personal preference: After looking at a few blades, I don't want the house to smell like an old lady using too much perfume...

If used at all, I'd suggest adding kenanga (or any other add-ons) drop by drop until the final odour is pleasant.

Regards,
Kai

[kai]

Some more threads to check out:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5041
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5570
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6067
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18998
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=24952

BTW, the (advanced) search function (of the forum or via your preferred search engine) is your friend!

Regards,
Kai

[kai]

Another quote from Alan on the synthetic sandalwood oils he has been using: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...3&postcount=21

Originally Posted by Alan

All this talk of incredibly expensive essential oils makes me a little bit embarrassed.

Makes me feel like a bit of peasant --- or even worse:- an outright cheapskate.

For 30 or 40 years I've used European produced sandalwood --- undoubtedly synthetic --- that I have bought in bulk from sellers of essential oils in Solo, Jawa. What I have been using since I began using the Javanese scented oil approach is exactly the same as everybody I have ever known involved with keris in Solo uses.

The raw materials are not collected from mystical 500 year old trees standing on top of haunted mountains.

Sure, its not distilled in gold pots over a slow fire of ebony wood.

Its not conjured over by wizards who use secret methods handed down from ancient kings.

Its not stored in crystal cylinders suspended by gold cords in sub terranian chambers.

But it is cheap, and it smells OK.

I used to buy "Sandescan" by Schimmel & Co. a German firm.

My current bottles bear the brand:- H&R = Haarmann & Reimer, another German firm.This oil is labelled "Sandescone"

I think H&R were taken over by Symrise AG a couple of years ago. This is another German firm.

I buy by the kilo, not by the gram, and I have never paid anything like the prices you other gentlemen are paying.

If we only have a few keris to anoint from time to time, I guess the gilt-edged approach is not too expensive, but if we need to look after a lot of keris, these cunningly hand crafted oils are just too expensive