pesi removal

[Pusaka]

If a pesi was broken so only a stub was left how hard would it be to replace? How is the pesi secured during the manufacture of a keris, is it just friction fitted?
If the stub of the pesi was put into the jaws of a vice do you think it could be removed without damaging the keris?

[lemmythesmith]

Hi Pusaka, the pesi is forged as an integral part of the blade. If there's only a "stump" left it must have broken, you would have to weld a new piece of metal onto the stump and file it to size.

[A. G. Maisey]

This is a fairly common problem, and there are several ways it can be fixed.

The most usual method is to make a small metal cone that fits neatly over the stub of the pesi, fill this cone with jabung, heat the stub of the pesi, and push it into place.

As Lemmy suggests, you can gas or electric weld an extension to the tang and re-file it, but the problem with this method is that apart from adding something new to the body of the keris, which some purists do not like, it often requires that the blade be re-stained after it. It is best to remove the gonjo before you do this, and refit later.

If the stub is too short, even with the gonjo removed, to allow a weld repair, you can drill a hole into the base of the blade, and shrink fit a new pesi, then refit the gonjo.

No blade with a damaged pesi cannot be repaired.

[David]

The most usual method is to make a small metal cone that fits neatly over the stub of the pesi, fill this cone with jabung, heat the stub of the pesi, and push it into place.
Alan, for those of us outside of the land of Oz could you describe what "jabung" is. I am not familiar with the name. :shrug:

[A. G. Maisey]

Sorry David.

Jabung is a mixture of damar ( a natural resin), wax, and a binder such as powdered terracotta. It is the material that was most often used to secure weapon handles in SE Asia olden times. It is a very, very strong hotmix glue.

[Pusaka]

Thanks everyone! I have never removed a gonjo as I have never needed to.
For this reason I had never seen the true base of the pesi. I had always thought that the pesi was hammered into a pre drilled hole in the base of the blade (friction fitted)


Are all keris blades made so that the blade and pesi are formed together from the same material?

[A. G. Maisey]

The usual answer to this question would be yes, that the pesi is always forged from the same forging as the blade, however, this would not be accurate.

A very few current era blades, usually the lower quality ones, have a pesi that has been welded to a stub from the main blade forging, and I have seen some very old blades, mainly early Mataram classification blades,where the blade has eroded at the sorsoran, and you can see that the pesi was made by forge welding a separate piece into the base of the blade.

[PenangsangII]

Alan, can I use Araldite Metal Epoxy to replace jabung?

[A. G. Maisey]

Yeah, I guess that would work. Maybe some of that plastic steel stuff would work OK too.

[Pusaka]

I have seen some very old blades, mainly early Mataram classification blades,where the blade has eroded at the sorsoran, and you can see that the pesi was made by forge welding a separate piece into the base of the blade.

A.G Maisy, these old blades you talk about, would they have drilled a hole in the base of the blade, hammered a pesi in and then forge welded it in place?

[A. G. Maisey]

Pusaka, you may call me Alan, but if you choose to use my family name, please pay me the courtesy of spelling it correctly. Thank you.

Yes, I think that is probably how it was done. When I first saw this in an old blade, I thought it might have been an old method of repair, but it would be technically impossible to do on an already shaped keris, especially one with sogokan. My guess is that this welding in of the pesi was done in cases where the forging was too short for the desired length of blade.

[Pusaka]

Sorry Alan, I did not leave out the "e" in your surname deliberately. Thanks for sharing your keris knowledge.