Matching Balinese keris sheath and hilt

[rasdan]

Hi guys,

Last year I ordered a new Balinese kekandikan sheath and cekahan hilt from two different dealers in Lombok for one of my Balinese keris.

I was told the sheath is timoho. I forgot to ask the type of wood for the hilt. Probably timoho as well. Since the hilt was made at a different time without the sheath, it looks like it is a bit small for the kekandikan.

I have a new (that was made to look old) gold plated metal locengan hilt that is a perfect fit for the kekandikan sheath in terms of size. However I would prefer to use the wooden hilt due to "originality" purposes.

My aim is I wanted the setup to be period correct to at least the 19th century. I have browsed through some old picture of Balinese wearing keris, but I cannot found a picture of a keris worn with a kekandikan sheath and cekahan hilt.

However, ample examples of the setup can be found in Mr. Lalu Djelenga's book, Keris di Lombok. This makes me think that the setup is probably new.

My question, is it correct to use cekahan hilt with a kekandikan sheath in the old times? Anybody have an old picture of this setup?

Finally, the blade that is going to be fitted in this sheath is a Balinese blade that looks like a Javanese keris i.e relatively shorter and smaller compared with an average Balinese keris. The entire setup is about 30 inch long and the blade is just about 14 inch long. Questions is, have you seen shorter Balinese dressed with a large sheath like this? Any opinions?