New kerises: need opinions

[David]

Originally Posted by asomotif

Normally bone scabbards are a bit of a put off for me.

This probably has much to do with my reaction to this keris. That and the rather poor images which make it somewhat difficult to determine both the quality and actual material. There is a great deal of aged bone sheaths on the market these days meant to add both a sense of age and status to old keris. This does not seem a standard material for Minangkabau sheaths AFAIK.
I will say that from what i can see of the hilt, the little fella kinda grows on you.
The blade itself seems to have some age, but i would not consider it a "good" keris per se. It is certain worth some work to clean it up and remove the "crust". If this proves out be an all original ensemble as Detlef suggests then perhaps finding a pendokok for it would be worth the trouble, especially if the material is whalebone (a rarer find than buffalo), which i am not at all convinced it is yet. I would also like to see the fit of sheath to blade. Hopefully Ariel can provide us with better pics when the keris arrives.

[ariel]

Thanks, David.
It seems to me that the crusts must be very solid. How would you approach the problem of cleaning? To my "western" taste WD-40 would be the way to go, but the smell will stay. Would it be acceptable keris-wise?

[Rick]

Originally Posted by ariel

Thanks, David.
It seems to me that the crusts must be very solid. How would you approach the problem of cleaning? To my "western" taste WD-40 would be the way to go, but the smell will stay. Would it be acceptable keris-wise?

Unsweetened Pineapple juice soak .
Scrub every other day .
No Abrasives !
Look in the back of discount (Marshalls, TJ Max) stores for a cheap glass vase as a soaking vessel .

It's traditional .

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by David

This probably has much to do with my reaction to this keris. That and the rather poor images which make it somewhat difficult to determine both the quality and actual material. There is a great deal of aged bone sheaths on the market these days meant to add both a sense of age and status to old keris. This does not seem a standard material for Minangkabau sheaths AFAIK.
I will say that from what i can see of the hilt, the little fella kinda grows on you.
The blade itself seems to have some age, but i would not consider it a "good" keris per se. It is certain worth some work to clean it up and remove the "crust". If this proves out be an all original ensemble as Detlef suggests then perhaps finding a pendokok for it would be worth the trouble, especially if the material is whalebone (a rarer find than buffalo), which i am not at all convinced it is yet. I would also like to see the fit of sheath to blade. Hopefully Ariel can provide us with better pics when the keris arrives.

Hello David,

the only keris sheaths are carved from bone, and here most of the time from whale bone, are from Sumatra, most of the time Minangkabau, not a very common material but there are examples. What we can see from the unsharp pictures are the hilt and as well the scabbard are well carved.
Regarding the blade I would say that it is from decent quality, I have seen a lot of more worse old blades like this one. IMHO are many from this small Minangkabau keris dress keris where the blades of poor quality. Agree with you that it would be good to see how good the blade fit inside the sheath.

Regards,

Detlef

[ariel]

More and hopefully better pics. As you see, he fit seems to be perfect: the blade and the scabbard were " made for each other":-)

[ariel]

A quick question: the warangka is made out of a single piece of bone. What kind of a cow or a buffalo bone would be big enough to carve a 5" wide x 1.5" tall x 1" thick solid piece out of i?

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by ariel

A quick question: the warangka is made out of a single piece of bone. What kind of a cow or a buffalo bone would be big enough to carve a 5" wide x 1.5" tall x 1" thick solid piece out of i?

I don't think that it is carved from one single piece of bone. The hilt is already carved from two pieces. The sheath from the keris from the thread I have posted is from 4 pieces and I think that yours are also from minimum 3 pieces. Like I have written before it could be whale bone but water buffalo is possible as well. The sheath from my one is approx. 26 cm long, how long is yours?

Regards,

Detlef

[Sajen]

I think the pieces from your sheath are put together at the marked places, have a good look if this is correct.

[ariel]

The stem is, of course, put together. The handle too: one can even see the gap, but this is obvious: no bone would have such an angle. I am talking strictly about the warangka: I looked carefully and could not find any joints. I gave it's dimensions above. Any thoughts?