Some Photos

A. G. Maisey · 3rd June 2009, 05:25 AM

I recently published some additions to the gallery in my site.

For the most part these are not photos of keris or other weapons, however, a number of people who have viewed these photographs expressed the opinion that I should make them available to a wider audience than those who routinely visit my site.

Here are the links:-

Forge work:-

http://www.kerisattosanaji.com/BANDIFORGE.html

Karaton Surakarta:-

http://www.kerisattosanaji.com/karat...artapageI.html

Musium Radya Pustaka:-

http://www.kerisattosanaji.com/radyapustaka.html

Jason Anstey · 3rd June 2009, 06:21 AM

THanks Alan!

Great stuff, I particularly enjoyed the forging story and pics!

Cheers

Jason

G. McCormack · 3rd June 2009, 03:50 PM

Great forging action shots, Alan!

David · 3rd June 2009, 04:13 PM

Thanks Alan. Great stuff all around. Will you be leaving these up on your site for a while? I am sure they will generate at least a few questions.

lemmythesmith · 3rd June 2009, 10:39 PM

Hi Alan, love it!! Is Bapak Subandi smelting his own iron? Bloomery iron is so much nicer to work with than puddled wrought iron! I like the "shields" either side of the anvil to protect against sparks and welding dross.

A. G. Maisey · 4th June 2009, 01:08 AM

Thanks for your comments gentlemen.

Yes, the pics will stay up. I've got more capacity in my site than I could ever use, so my objective is to continually add photos as time permits, and as I put them up, I'll leave them there indefinitely.

Bandi was involved in a couple of smelts, but he does not routinely smelt iron. The keris which he normally makes do not use this iron, and if it were requested, I'm certain that the asking price would be beyond any reasonable level. I showed the product of the smelt here simply as an illustration.

Lemmy, the way in which smiths and strikers work in Indonesia is a source of wonder to me.
Yes, the shields are a good idea, but if you wear boots and an apron they are not necessary. Of course, boots and apron are well outside the budget in Indonesia, so the shields are maybe more appropriate, but they do make effective use of tools more difficult.
As does the design of the tools themselves. Using a heavy hammer the most effective way is to place yourself so that on the strike you finish with your right hand at the end of the handle and against your hip bone, you then kick the hammer with your hip at the same time that you lift for the next strike. Using a hammer like this means you can use a few kilos more than you can without using the hip lift.
In Jawa, the handles on heavy hammers are often too short, and are made from either rough timber or two pieces of split bambu wired together. This means you cannot slide your hand on the handle, and every strike is from a dead lift of the hammer. Then you add in the factor of standing at arms length from the anvil. The whole exercise becomes very, very difficult.

Pauzan used to have a wonderful striker. This bloke was about 55-60 kilos wringing wet and five foot nothing tall, and when he was working for Pauzan he was already well into his 50's. He used a 20 lb hammer on the typical short little handle. His method of use was to act as the fulcrum of a pendulum:- he didn't lift the hammer, he'd strike, let the hammer slide off the billet, swing between his legs, and use the swing to bring it down again. More than one way to skin a cat.

kulbuntet · 5th June 2009, 10:58 AM

Pak Alan,

Trima kasih for sharing this!

BluErf · 6th June 2009, 02:31 AM

Great and interesting pictures! I'm going out now, so I'd have to look at them in detail later! Thanks for sharing, Alan.

TVV · 6th June 2009, 04:04 AM

Thank you for the pictures, Alan,

I think I see a yataghan and an Arab nimcha on one of them from the Radya Pustaka Museum. One can only wonder how they got there, especially the yataghan.

Regards,
Teodor

BluErf · 7th June 2009, 02:26 AM

These are great pictures Alan! I like the Kraton pictures especially. Makes me want to visit it soon. The last time I went to Solo and Yogyakarta on a tour was when I was a little boy. I bought a Keris-like object from a roaming hawker near the grounds of the Kraton (Solo, I believe).

BluErf · 7th June 2009, 03:49 AM

Hi Alan,

I just noticed - the 1st keris in the Kraton series of pictures - the blewah seemed to have been painted on, and the gandar is a bit short. Why is that?

A. G. Maisey · 8th June 2009, 07:33 AM

I forget if this pendok was a painted on one or not, but the shortness of it is due to the angle at which it was taken. As I noted, the light for these exhibits is very, very bad. Where I used a flash I had to position the camera so that there was no flash reflection, where I could get an image by upping the ISO, I needed to position myself so I did not block light and did not get reflection. All these inside photos were very difficult to take. There is nothing unusual in the proportions or form of any object photographed, but the angles at which the photos were taken do make some things look a bit peculiar.

sjors · 8th June 2009, 08:18 AM

Thank you very much Mr. Maisey for the pictures of Musium Radya Pustaka; it brings back memories.
15 years ago I stayed at the Hotel Dana at Jl. Slamet Riyadi for some time, so I only had to cross the street and I've done that several times!

A. G. Maisey · 8th June 2009, 08:55 AM

Radya Pustaka is on my visit regularly list.

Light is terrible, exhibits almost unphotographable, maintenance of exhibits is a disgrace,however, I believe that they get virtually no assistance from anybody, so its fortunate that its still there at all. Wouldn't like to predict how much longer it will be there. As I remarked elsewhere, the big plus from a visit there is the feeling that you get of having stepped back in time.

3rd June 2009, 05:25 AM	#1
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,877	Some Photos I recently published some additions to the gallery in my site. For the most part these are not photos of keris or other weapons, however, a number of people who have viewed these photographs expressed the opinion that I should make them available to a wider audience than those who routinely visit my site. Here are the links:- Forge work:- http://www.kerisattosanaji.com/BANDIFORGE.html Karaton Surakarta:- http://www.kerisattosanaji.com/karat...artapageI.html Musium Radya Pustaka:- http://www.kerisattosanaji.com/radyapustaka.html

8th June 2009, 08:18 AM	#13
sjors Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 68	Jalan Slamet Riyadi Thank you very much Mr. Maisey for the pictures of Musium Radya Pustaka; it brings back memories. 15 years ago I stayed at the Hotel Dana at Jl. Slamet Riyadi for some time, so I only had to cross the street and I've done that several times!

3rd June 2009, 06:21 AM	#2
Jason Anstey Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 102	THanks Alan! Great stuff, I particularly enjoyed the forging story and pics! Cheers Jason

3rd June 2009, 03:50 PM	#3
G. McCormack Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Tallahassee, FL Posts: 131	Great forging action shots, Alan!

3rd June 2009, 04:13 PM	#4
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,113	Thanks Alan. Great stuff all around. Will you be leaving these up on your site for a while? I am sure they will generate at least a few questions.

3rd June 2009, 10:39 PM	#5
lemmythesmith Member Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 93	Hi Alan, love it!! Is Bapak Subandi smelting his own iron? Bloomery iron is so much nicer to work with than puddled wrought iron! I like the "shields" either side of the anvil to protect against sparks and welding dross.

4th June 2009, 01:08 AM	#6
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,877	Thanks for your comments gentlemen. Yes, the pics will stay up. I've got more capacity in my site than I could ever use, so my objective is to continually add photos as time permits, and as I put them up, I'll leave them there indefinitely. Bandi was involved in a couple of smelts, but he does not routinely smelt iron. The keris which he normally makes do not use this iron, and if it were requested, I'm certain that the asking price would be beyond any reasonable level. I showed the product of the smelt here simply as an illustration. Lemmy, the way in which smiths and strikers work in Indonesia is a source of wonder to me. Yes, the shields are a good idea, but if you wear boots and an apron they are not necessary. Of course, boots and apron are well outside the budget in Indonesia, so the shields are maybe more appropriate, but they do make effective use of tools more difficult. As does the design of the tools themselves. Using a heavy hammer the most effective way is to place yourself so that on the strike you finish with your right hand at the end of the handle and against your hip bone, you then kick the hammer with your hip at the same time that you lift for the next strike. Using a hammer like this means you can use a few kilos more than you can without using the hip lift. In Jawa, the handles on heavy hammers are often too short, and are made from either rough timber or two pieces of split bambu wired together. This means you cannot slide your hand on the handle, and every strike is from a dead lift of the hammer. Then you add in the factor of standing at arms length from the anvil. The whole exercise becomes very, very difficult. Pauzan used to have a wonderful striker. This bloke was about 55-60 kilos wringing wet and five foot nothing tall, and when he was working for Pauzan he was already well into his 50's. He used a 20 lb hammer on the typical short little handle. His method of use was to act as the fulcrum of a pendulum:- he didn't lift the hammer, he'd strike, let the hammer slide off the billet, swing between his legs, and use the swing to bring it down again. More than one way to skin a cat.

5th June 2009, 10:58 AM	#7
kulbuntet Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands Posts: 159	Pak Alan, Trima kasih for sharing this!

6th June 2009, 02:31 AM	#8
BluErf Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,180	Great and interesting pictures! I'm going out now, so I'd have to look at them in detail later! Thanks for sharing, Alan.

6th June 2009, 04:04 AM	#9
TVV Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Bay Area Posts: 1,620	Thank you for the pictures, Alan, I think I see a yataghan and an Arab nimcha on one of them from the Radya Pustaka Museum. One can only wonder how they got there, especially the yataghan. Regards, Teodor

7th June 2009, 02:26 AM	#10
BluErf Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,180	These are great pictures Alan! I like the Kraton pictures especially. Makes me want to visit it soon. The last time I went to Solo and Yogyakarta on a tour was when I was a little boy. I bought a Keris-like object from a roaming hawker near the grounds of the Kraton (Solo, I believe).

7th June 2009, 03:49 AM	#11
BluErf Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,180	Hi Alan, I just noticed - the 1st keris in the Kraton series of pictures - the blewah seemed to have been painted on, and the gandar is a bit short. Why is that?

8th June 2009, 07:33 AM	#12
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,877	I forget if this pendok was a painted on one or not, but the shortness of it is due to the angle at which it was taken. As I noted, the light for these exhibits is very, very bad. Where I used a flash I had to position the camera so that there was no flash reflection, where I could get an image by upping the ISO, I needed to position myself so I did not block light and did not get reflection. All these inside photos were very difficult to take. There is nothing unusual in the proportions or form of any object photographed, but the angles at which the photos were taken do make some things look a bit peculiar.

8th June 2009, 08:55 AM	#14
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,877	Radya Pustaka is on my visit regularly list. Light is terrible, exhibits almost unphotographable, maintenance of exhibits is a disgrace,however, I believe that they get virtually no assistance from anybody, so its fortunate that its still there at all. Wouldn't like to predict how much longer it will be there. As I remarked elsewhere, the big plus from a visit there is the feeling that you get of having stepped back in time.