Keris Panjang

[David]

Well, many of you probably notice that i don't post too many keris from my personal collection here. Not the blades at least. I tend to think of them as my children and just as an over protective parent, i suppose, i worry about where photos of them might end up once they are displayed on the world wide web. However, since i did just recently reveal this beauty elsewhere on the web it seemed wrong of me to not show it here amongst friends.
This is my one and only keris panjang. From the horn hilt i am guessing Sumatra as an origin though i am open to other ideas. The brass pendokok actually fits better than the photos reveal. Someone fixed this hilt to the pesi and didn't set it properly so it rides up too high creating a gap with some play between the hilt and sheath. But when push up to the base of the hilt it fits rather nicely. I would love to remove the hilt and re-seat it, but i worry about the fragility of the horn hilt in that process so i am hesitant to take any action there for the moment.
The top sheath has a beautiful sun ray pattern with flashing grain and the stem, i believe, is black ebony with bands of silver.
The blade has nice double fullers that extend the entire 58cm (almost 23 in.) length.
All in all i believe this keris presents itself as an elegant ensemble. If anyone can add any pertinent information to my description it would be much appreciated. I hope you enjoy the images.

[David]

And yes, before anyone mentions it i am aware that close-ups of the blade base show some surface rust. It has already been taken care of. Interestingly, this rust wasn't really noticeable until i photographed it. I guess that is one good reason for doing good, sharp close-ups of your blades from time to time.

[A. G. Maisey]

Yeah, we can often see more in a good close-up than we do with the thing in front of us. I don't really understand this.

David, I would not hesitate to apply heat to the blade base to remove this hilt.

We do not know how it is fixed, but whatever it is it will let go with heat.

The main thing is that we do not hurry:- hold the hilt and that way you know if there is too much heat building up in it. Hold the blade not too far from the heated area and that also gives an indication of heat buildup.
I normally use a propane torch, bushy flame, pass the blade base and first maybe 4 inches back and forth through the flame. A candle also works well.
Keep trying to move the hilt by not too strong twisting.
If you control the heat you will not damage the hilt.

The main danger to my mind is that if the hilt is rusted in place, you may break the pesi, and although this can be fixed easily, its not something that most of us ever want to have to do.

Pretty nice keris.

[Jean]

I agree with Alan and would see another incentive to free the hilt as the pendokok is a Bugis cup so not suitable IMO? (other opinions are welcome). Nice kris indeed and probably from Sumatra Riau, the scabbard looks more recent than the blade. And a typical case of "to clean or not to clean the blade?".
Regards

[drdavid]

Very nice piece David, elegant blade, lovely hilt and excellent sheath.
Drdavid

[Sajen]

Hello David,

beautiful panjang and great pictures. I would follow the advice Alan has given to remove the hilt.
Difficult to say from where this keris coming but maybe Jean is on the right path and in this case the pendokok could be original IMHO.

Regards,
Detlef

[David]

Originally Posted by Jean

I agree with Alan and would see another incentive to free the hilt as the pendokok is a Bugis cup so not suitable IMO? (other opinions are welcome). Nice kris indeed and probably from Sumatra Riau, the scabbard looks more recent than the blade. And a typical case of "to clean or not to clean the blade?".

Frankly i am not so concerned with the pendokok itself. As i stated, it fits very nicely to the hilt when pushed up to it and i feel fairly certain that it has been with this blade for a long time and was probably placed there by a user rather than a collector. But then, we will never know really, will we? Sometimes i think we collectors get just a bit too anxious to change the keris we collect to some imagined ideal perfection that may have never existed when the blade was in use in the culture. Certainly there was a certain acceptable level of cross-cultural exchange of keris parts throughout history. The pendokok fits and looks attractive to my eye so i would need a bit more convincing to feel obligated to change it out. :-)
On the "to clean or not" question, as i stated before i have already attended to the rust. The blade is fairly clean and smooth at the moment, but seems to have this mottled appearance because of the remnants of an old staining. There is no pamor pattern in this blade so i'm not really in a rush to re-stain it.

[David]

Originally Posted by Jean

I agree with Alan and would see another incentive to free the hilt as the pendokok is a Bugis cup so not suitable IMO? (other opinions are welcome).

I did a real quick internet search and in less just a couple of minutes i found 3 old examples of similar style pendokok on panjang hilts. Interestingly they are all similar hilt forms to mine, so i am suspecting that this might very well be an acceptable pendokok for this form.

[asomotif]

[QUOTE=David]I did a real quick internet search.... QUOTE]

I really like the 2nd one.
Did you search for LOTR Witchking ukiran

[David]

[QUOTE=asomotif]

Originally Posted by David

I did a real quick internet search.... QUOTE]

I really like the 2nd one.
Did you search for LOTR Witchking ukiran

Right?!! It certainly is an interesting variation.