Arsenic or realgar for Keris etching?

A. G. Maisey · 13th August 2009, 12:12 AM

This is a recounting of something I have seen, it is most definitely not any sort of recommendation for anybody to practice.

Before I met Pak Parman ( Empu Suparman) I had already been staining blades by use of several different methods, at that time I found the most effective to be the brushing method. Pak Parman introduced me to a different method that produces by far the best results of any method I have tried. I will not give any advice here, nor in writing, on how to use this method because it is has far greater potential for danger than any other method.

However --- when I was taught this method by Pak Parman, it started from buying the warangan and grinding it up to a powder.

This grinding was done in the mortar and pestle that his wife used in the kitchen to prepare food.

Admitted, Pak Parman placed a piece of plastic bag over the grinding surfaces of both mortar and pestle, but this plastic soon broke through, and the reason he used the plastic was not to prevent contamination of the kitchen utensils, but to prevent loss of too much of the warangan --- Javanese mortars and pestles are made from a very grainy volcanic rock that has a pock marked surface which retains some of whatever is ground in it.

Pak Parman lived into his mid-seventies, and his passing was due not to the effects of arsenic, but due to the effects of an even more deadly poison:- TOBACCO.

Arsenic has two faces.

Yes, we know it as a poison, but it has been used as a medicine since ancient times.

http://molinterv.aspetjournals.org/c...nt/full/5/2/60

This article is worth the read.

The length of time that warangan or arsenic needs to be allowed to stand after mixing up the suspension depends upon the method used.

For both my preferred method, and for the brushing method, ten or fifteen minutes is usually sufficient, just enough time to allow the floating droplets of powder to sink to the bottom of the fluid.

If using the soak method it is necessary to allow the powder to sit for longer in the fluid.

kulbuntet · 14th August 2009, 05:06 AM

Alan,

This method your dont wanna get in to is called Nyek?

A. G. Maisey · 14th August 2009, 06:58 AM

Never heard it called that, but given the meaning of nyek, that would fit.

ganjawulung · 14th August 2009, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kulbuntet

This method your dont wanna get in to is called Nyek?

Dear Kulbuntet,
If you stain your keris like the way you paint something with warangan -- with for instance, paint brush -- then this method is called "nyek" (the "e" spelled as vocal "e" in "church", and "k" consonant as spelled as ending consonant "g"). This method of "nyek" is very popular among keris traditionalist (old people in the past) in Yogyakarta area, for staining old kerises. The result is not contrast if you compare with "soaking method"...

The other method, called as "koloh" method. Soaking the blade in "blandongan" (special place for staining kerises). Koloh method vastly used among keris people in Solo, East Java, Madura, Bali. More complicated than "nyek" method, because you must master each character of the warangan liquid. "Warangan galak" (quick reacting warangan liquid) is not good for blades with "pamor sanak" (?). But is good for blades with "pamor byor" (contrast pamor, with pamor material such as nickel -- bright type of pamor). For blades with "pamor sanak" then it is better if you use "warangan nom" (very soft warangan with very slow reacting of blackening the blade). Some staining specialist in Solo, sometimes push the blade with inner part of fingers (this practice of course, is dangerous...) to push the sanak pamor...

If you choose the "nyek" method, then you simply crushed the warangan, mixed it with "air jeruk nipis" (squeezed lime liquid), then brushed the blade with warangan. Of course, you must first "mutih" (brushed the blade with lime liquid and cream soap many time, then brush and brush with lime liquid until "white" as if it is painted with "metalic paint"...)

The "koloh" method is not that simple. The first absolute thing to do is "mutih" your blade perfectly, then soak your blade in "blandongan" with warangan fluid... It will waste your time, and you will fail, if you don't do the "mutih" process perfectly

GANJAWULUNG

David · 14th August 2009, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganjawulung

If you choose the "nyek" method, then you simply crushed the warangan, mixed it with "air jeruk nipis" (squeezed lime liquid), then brushed the blade with warangan. Of course, you must first "mutih" (brushed the blade with lime liquid and cream soap many time, then brush and brush with lime liquid until "white" as if it is painted with "metalic paint"...)

Ganja, i am by no means a expert at staining blades. I have had fairly satisfactory results though. I am confused by what you call "mutih", firstly because it is the first i have heard of it and secondly because i do not know what you mean by "cream soap". I do, of course, get my blades "white" before i begin the staining processes. I am always interested in anything that can improve my results so maybe you could explain "mutih" further.

ganjawulung · 14th August 2009, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David

I am confused by what you call "mutih", firstly because it is the first i have heard of it and secondly because i do not know what you mean by "cream soap". I do, of course, get my blades "white" before i begin the staining processes. I am always interested in anything that can improve my results so maybe you could explain "mutih" further.

Please don't be confused with word of "mutih" in "fasting tradition" -- "pasa mutih" is only eating white rise -- without side-disk. But "mutih keris blade" is whitening-the-blade process (?). Of course, I don't create myself this mewarangi term. I think, every keris staining specialist in Solo, they know what "mutih bilah keris" (to make keris blade 'white', before staining process) is.

I am not a staining expert, though I can stain keris. But have no time to stain kerises by myself due to my limited free time. Usually I clean all of my keris blade, soak them in "blandongan" with coconut's water for couple of days. After one or two days, then I brush each blade with very soft tooth-brush, or other kind of soft brush with "air jeruk nipis" (squeezed lime juice) mixed with (Indonesian) cream-detergent (for instance, "Wing" cream detergent, or B 29) -- in the old days usually we used "buah kelerak" (certain fruit, traditionally used for cleaning batik clothes in Java -- some day I will photo this special fruit)... Just cleaning all the dirt, oil, and also rust from the blades, before the "mutih" the blade process.

To do the "mutih" the blade job, usually I mixed squeezed lime juice with cream detergent (this is of course, a contemporary way in Solo, Jogya, Jakarta and else where in Jawa) then brush and brush the blade again. Sometimes, I used the very soft ashes -- mixed with squeezed lime juice/cream detergent. Please, not to strong brushes with ashes... just to remove oil residue of the blade. The finishing process of "mutih" the keris blade is brush and brush the blade with squeezed lime juice only, until become "white".

To do the best "koloh" method staining job, you need to do the "mutih" process perfectly. Usually, I do this process by myself, then I give the further process of staining to some staining specialist -- in Jakarta, or in Yogyakarta and Solo.

Keris staining specialist in Solo, usually they have their formula of warangan fluid. Mixing warangan fluid, is also not as that simple. It needs month of making "warangan jadi" (ready to use warangan) -- in at least two different characteristic (sorry for explaining in English badly, David). Strong mixture -- in our colloquial slang, we call it "warangan galak" and the soft one as "warangan nom".

To make "warangan nom" become "warangan galak", then just put more crushed warangan, and also more lime-juice. The process sometimes take quite a long time...

Once again, I apologize, I can not explain to you clearly...

GANJAWULUNG

A. G. Maisey · 15th August 2009, 03:23 AM

I also am no expert on the staining of keris, but I have been staining keris since I was about 17 or 18, and I am now 68. That's a pretty long time. I taught myself to stain keris by reading descriptions in books written during colonial times by British people who had visited, or who were resident in Malaya. Before I ever went to Indonesia I knew three different methods, and of these I had found that the most effective did not involve arsenic at all, but used sulphur, salt and rice water.

The first lessons I had on staining keris in Jogja came from an old gentleman who was introduced to me as "Romo Murdo". From him I learnt a very quick and easy way to bring a blade back to an acceptable condition with very little effort. This method is the basis for the brushing method that I recommend to people who want to know how to stain a keris. However, my recommendations incorporate things that I did not learn in Jogja.

After this Jogja lesson I then learnt other ways of using warangan and of staining keris; some of these ways were variations of the Romo Murdo method, others were considerably different, such as the soak method.I learnt these varying ways over a very long period and from a number of people in Solo and Malang.Often my lessons came in disjointed sections, and the people I learnt from were totally unaware that they were teaching me.

Pak Parman taught me the very best method. It is produces excellent results, is virtually fail proof, but has high potential for danger.

In all methods, one thing is absolutely certain:- the end result depends very much on the surface preparation before staining commences.

Pak Ganja has explained his approach.

Pak Parman taught me only to scrub to whiteness with cleaning ash (abu gosok) and coconut husk; use of water as the lubricant is preferred, and after the blade is white, lime juice without warangan is used to sensitise the blade for the initial warangan application. I have used this cleaning method many times, and it is effective.

In Australia I do not use ash, nor coconut husk to get the blade white. I use sink cleaner such as Ajax, and steel wool or scotchbrite pads. I feel that these materials probably give a better result than the ash and coconut husk.

Whatever is used is probably not at all important.What is important is that the blade surface must be absolutely spotless, especially in the depressions and grain openings found in old blades, if you do not get rid of dirt and residual rust completely you will finish up with green or yellow discolouration under the apparently black surface.

If you want to see how good a staining job is you must take the blade into direct sunlight and look at it at an angle so that you can see into the stain. I examine in this way every blade that I pay to have done, and I usually reject at least 50% of those blades. If you only look at a blade in indirect light you cannot see the imperfections in the staining. If you look at it inside a building, you will never see anything.

A really good staining job takes a long time to do, and can require adjustment of contrast even when it is seemingly finished. It is an art, and in my experience very few people can practice this art effectively.

However, almost anybody can get a decent result just by following instructions and using common sense.

David · 15th August 2009, 03:50 AM

Thank you so much Alan. Though i cannot really tell until i make my next attempt, i believe the little tips you have given here will improve my staining skills a good 50%.

kulbuntet · 15th August 2009, 06:48 PM

Dear GANJAWULUNG,

I thought it was the other way around?

SIRAMAN (BATHING) METHOD
There are other types of bathing:
1. Nyek, a mixture of citrus with warangan and cemengan (darkened aste water of marangi). Whitened keris are sun dried between 8 and 11 in the morning. After keris is warm, fingers are dipped into the mixture and pressed into tosan aji from hilt to tip until the tosan aji becomes black. Then, water is poured to the tosan aji and brushed with ash. This step is called dikeplok. Then the blade is brushed carefully so the black layer stays. Next, tosan aji is wiped and sun dried. This process is repeated until desired result is acquired. Next, tosan aji is washed with ash to remove the citrus acid. Then washed with clean water and sun dried. After tosan aji is dry, it is oiled.
2. Blonon (koyoh), similar to nyek, but, tosan aji is not pressed with fingers but brushed to apply warangan. After tosan aji is dark, it is immediately being dikeplok with ash. This process is repeated until the ornaments boldens.
3. Koloh, using other place, whitened tosan aji is dipped into citrus warangan mixture with cemengan. After a few minutes, tosan aji is lifted and dried. Then, water is poured and dikeplok. The process is repeated and tosan aji is not sun dried. The key factors of the success of this method lie on the keplok step. The black color on iron can slowly sink in to the iron.

regards

Edit,

I think i may understand what GANJAWULUNG means with the term corrosif (pls correct me iff im wrong!). Not corrosif as in acid, but like in reactable. I does react to the iron. The blacker the iron becomes, the ticker the reacted layer of iron. The more the iron is "eaten"(reacted to a arsenic iron compound). Iff you do this every year, like in surra month usual is... in years it will eat a piece of your keris...

kulbuntet · 15th August 2009, 07:18 PM

I do hsare your opinion about that diffrent blades (pamor technices+material) need diffent aproach. Yes a new blade with pamor neckel/nickel/titanium or something that is pure. Needs a more stong solution, now since that AsS or As2S3 do not solve as good than As2O3(20Gr/l) And trioxide is wtronger to react.. beter to use trioxide. But with old blades as pamor Luwu and Pramamban beter to use less strong solution, realgar does the job good engouh. Just need to give it more time. My experience with realgar is that the solution does need time too to get on strenght.

here some pic of my just finished blade. Hope the pice are good enough

notice the bath on the left.

BTW, this is ther Yogja Keris with the square peksi!

David · 15th August 2009, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kulbuntet

I do hsare your opinion about that diffrent blades (pamor technices+material) need diffent aproach. Yes a new blade with pamor neckel/nickel/titanium or something that is pure. Needs a more stong solution, now since that AsS or As2S3 do not solve as good than As2O3(20Gr/l) And trioxide is wtronger to react.. beter to use trioxide. But with old blades as pamor Luwu and Pramamban beter to use less strong solution, realgar does the job good engouh. Just need to give it more time.

Just a thought. Can't the strength of the solution be adjusted based on the amount of arsenic used in the solution. As2O3 is stronger than realgar, but if you use less in your solution than your solution should be weaker, right?
Thanks for showing us part of your process Michel. I like your home made staining trough. Frankly i am picking up a tip or two from all these different methods which i believe will be helpful to my process in the end.

kulbuntet · 15th August 2009, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David

Just a thought. Can't the strength of the solution be adjusted based on the amount of arsenic used in the solution. As2O3 is stronger than realgar, but if you use less in your solution than your solution should be weaker, right?
Thanks for showing us part of your process Michel. I like your home made staining trough. Frankly i am picking up a tip or two from all these different methods which i believe will be helpful to my process in the end.

Hi David,

Yes of coarse, your thinking is correct. When i make a solution i make it as a stock solution... this means as strong as it can get and put a bit extra in it, to lay on botom of the yar( see pic one left top). Let it stand for a year. As you can see on the pic, my bath is almost black coloured. It was a year ago just yellowish (lime juice colour). The warangan need to solve slowly, because i must be extraced from the mineral.

These stock solutions are so strong that even with colder temperature it wil darken a blade, but not with good results.. when you want to do some work.. just dillute it a bit, when stil to stong a bit more.. dilluting a solution is posible and wil keep the solution good to go.. but when to weak.. put more in.. normal.. but before it wil work.. one year later. The use of trioxid is easy because it wil work when you make it.. because the faster solving of the salt (As2O3).

Another tip!, i dont trow away anny thing... same for the waste water. It holds a bit or warangan, so i recycle it it it gets stronger, than it can be used to dillute or vaporised bath. Or for slow washing realy old blades.

15th August 2009, 06:48 PM	#9
kulbuntet Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands Posts: 159	Dear GANJAWULUNG, I thought it was the other way around? SIRAMAN (BATHING) METHOD There are other types of bathing: 1. Nyek, a mixture of citrus with warangan and cemengan (darkened aste water of marangi). Whitened keris are sun dried between 8 and 11 in the morning. After keris is warm, fingers are dipped into the mixture and pressed into tosan aji from hilt to tip until the tosan aji becomes black. Then, water is poured to the tosan aji and brushed with ash. This step is called dikeplok. Then the blade is brushed carefully so the black layer stays. Next, tosan aji is wiped and sun dried. This process is repeated until desired result is acquired. Next, tosan aji is washed with ash to remove the citrus acid. Then washed with clean water and sun dried. After tosan aji is dry, it is oiled. 2. Blonon (koyoh), similar to nyek, but, tosan aji is not pressed with fingers but brushed to apply warangan. After tosan aji is dark, it is immediately being dikeplok with ash. This process is repeated until the ornaments boldens. 3. Koloh, using other place, whitened tosan aji is dipped into citrus warangan mixture with cemengan. After a few minutes, tosan aji is lifted and dried. Then, water is poured and dikeplok. The process is repeated and tosan aji is not sun dried. The key factors of the success of this method lie on the keplok step. The black color on iron can slowly sink in to the iron. regards Edit, I think i may understand what GANJAWULUNG means with the term corrosif (pls correct me iff im wrong!). Not corrosif as in acid, but like in reactable. I does react to the iron. The blacker the iron becomes, the ticker the reacted layer of iron. The more the iron is "eaten"(reacted to a arsenic iron compound). Iff you do this every year, like in surra month usual is... in years it will eat a piece of your keris... Last edited by kulbuntet; 16th August 2009 at 11:31 AM.

15th August 2009, 07:18 PM	#10
kulbuntet Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands Posts: 159	I do hsare your opinion about that diffrent blades (pamor technices+material) need diffent aproach. Yes a new blade with pamor neckel/nickel/titanium or something that is pure. Needs a more stong solution, now since that AsS or As2S3 do not solve as good than As2O3(20Gr/l) And trioxide is wtronger to react.. beter to use trioxide. But with old blades as pamor Luwu and Pramamban beter to use less strong solution, realgar does the job good engouh. Just need to give it more time. My experience with realgar is that the solution does need time too to get on strenght. here some pic of my just finished blade. Hope the pice are good enough notice the bath on the left. BTW, this is ther Yogja Keris with the square peksi! Last edited by kulbuntet; 16th August 2009 at 01:32 AM.

13th August 2009, 12:12 AM	#1
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,861	This is a recounting of something I have seen, it is most definitely not any sort of recommendation for anybody to practice. Before I met Pak Parman ( Empu Suparman) I had already been staining blades by use of several different methods, at that time I found the most effective to be the brushing method. Pak Parman introduced me to a different method that produces by far the best results of any method I have tried. I will not give any advice here, nor in writing, on how to use this method because it is has far greater potential for danger than any other method. However --- when I was taught this method by Pak Parman, it started from buying the warangan and grinding it up to a powder. This grinding was done in the mortar and pestle that his wife used in the kitchen to prepare food. Admitted, Pak Parman placed a piece of plastic bag over the grinding surfaces of both mortar and pestle, but this plastic soon broke through, and the reason he used the plastic was not to prevent contamination of the kitchen utensils, but to prevent loss of too much of the warangan --- Javanese mortars and pestles are made from a very grainy volcanic rock that has a pock marked surface which retains some of whatever is ground in it. Pak Parman lived into his mid-seventies, and his passing was due not to the effects of arsenic, but due to the effects of an even more deadly poison:- TOBACCO. Arsenic has two faces. Yes, we know it as a poison, but it has been used as a medicine since ancient times. http://molinterv.aspetjournals.org/c...nt/full/5/2/60 This article is worth the read. The length of time that warangan or arsenic needs to be allowed to stand after mixing up the suspension depends upon the method used. For both my preferred method, and for the brushing method, ten or fifteen minutes is usually sufficient, just enough time to allow the floating droplets of powder to sink to the bottom of the fluid. If using the soak method it is necessary to allow the powder to sit for longer in the fluid.

14th August 2009, 05:06 AM	#2
kulbuntet Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands Posts: 159	Alan, This method your dont wanna get in to is called Nyek?

14th August 2009, 06:58 AM	#3
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,861	Never heard it called that, but given the meaning of nyek, that would fit.

15th August 2009, 03:23 AM	#7
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,861	I also am no expert on the staining of keris, but I have been staining keris since I was about 17 or 18, and I am now 68. That's a pretty long time. I taught myself to stain keris by reading descriptions in books written during colonial times by British people who had visited, or who were resident in Malaya. Before I ever went to Indonesia I knew three different methods, and of these I had found that the most effective did not involve arsenic at all, but used sulphur, salt and rice water. The first lessons I had on staining keris in Jogja came from an old gentleman who was introduced to me as "Romo Murdo". From him I learnt a very quick and easy way to bring a blade back to an acceptable condition with very little effort. This method is the basis for the brushing method that I recommend to people who want to know how to stain a keris. However, my recommendations incorporate things that I did not learn in Jogja. After this Jogja lesson I then learnt other ways of using warangan and of staining keris; some of these ways were variations of the Romo Murdo method, others were considerably different, such as the soak method.I learnt these varying ways over a very long period and from a number of people in Solo and Malang.Often my lessons came in disjointed sections, and the people I learnt from were totally unaware that they were teaching me. Pak Parman taught me the very best method. It is produces excellent results, is virtually fail proof, but has high potential for danger. In all methods, one thing is absolutely certain:- the end result depends very much on the surface preparation before staining commences. Pak Ganja has explained his approach. Pak Parman taught me only to scrub to whiteness with cleaning ash (abu gosok) and coconut husk; use of water as the lubricant is preferred, and after the blade is white, lime juice without warangan is used to sensitise the blade for the initial warangan application. I have used this cleaning method many times, and it is effective. In Australia I do not use ash, nor coconut husk to get the blade white. I use sink cleaner such as Ajax, and steel wool or scotchbrite pads. I feel that these materials probably give a better result than the ash and coconut husk. Whatever is used is probably not at all important.What is important is that the blade surface must be absolutely spotless, especially in the depressions and grain openings found in old blades, if you do not get rid of dirt and residual rust completely you will finish up with green or yellow discolouration under the apparently black surface. If you want to see how good a staining job is you must take the blade into direct sunlight and look at it at an angle so that you can see into the stain. I examine in this way every blade that I pay to have done, and I usually reject at least 50% of those blades. If you only look at a blade in indirect light you cannot see the imperfections in the staining. If you look at it inside a building, you will never see anything. A really good staining job takes a long time to do, and can require adjustment of contrast even when it is seemingly finished. It is an art, and in my experience very few people can practice this art effectively. However, almost anybody can get a decent result just by following instructions and using common sense.

15th August 2009, 03:50 AM	#8
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,103	Thank you so much Alan. Though i cannot really tell until i make my next attempt, i believe the little tips you have given here will improve my staining skills a good 50%.