Kris Hilt Removal
 

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Hi All!
Please excuse mistakes in my first post ever.
I just wanted someone to direct me to an idiot-sheet for the removal of the hilt from a Moro kris. In the absence of such an everyman's guide .. perhaps one of you would deign to guide me. I would be most appreciative.
Thanks.

Most original hilts are secured with plant resins ; heat applied to the base of the blade should after a while warm the tang enough for removal . If the blade has stirrups (baca baca) you will need to be more careful ; sometimes these baca baca are secured by a small nail . I'd suggest using a hair dryer rather than a torch to heat the blade .
A picture of the kris in question would be most helpful .

Hi Rick,
Thanks for the prompt reply. I needed the reassurance. What if the hilt is not original? I have a few krises .. all of them 'el-cheapos'.. I think, from no baca-baca to two. I'm in the process of unpacking at the moment but I'll post pix ASAP. Once again , thank you .

WARNING! this is kinda aggressive!

i place the metal tray in our oven as close as i can to the top and set it to broil. i then place the sword blade first in the oven making sure the handle is out of the oven. this is important! oh, you need the Ov Glove coz it gets pretty hot. or maybe a real thick oven mitts. once it gets hot, remove the sword and wiggle the blade from handle. keep repeating until it comes off...

^ Just curious, that doesn't ruin the temper of the blade at all, does it?

(I don't think it does since you need to heat a blade up to an extreme heat but just wanna make sure)

No you are right in that it takes a lot of heat to kill the temper.

...or if you can get a hold of a heat gun. i got one that's rated to 700deg. these types of heat gun are use to strip paint. you can localize the heat this way...
aim the gun about 3 or 4 inches below the handle base. when you see the resin start to bubble at the base of the handle, it's ready. jiggle the handle slowly and gently. it'll come loose.
yeah, don't forge to wear a kevlar glove a well. it can get pretty hot.

Average tempering temperaturs of carbon steel blades is approx 200 ° C for a cutting tool; when tempering machetes and swords one wants more flexibility and uses higher temperatures. Blank metal at 200 ° will get a distinctive pale straw colour (surface oxidation). So beware!

^ With this in mind, Ideally how hot do i want my oven to be when I use this hilt removal method? Not over 200 celsius I'm guessing?

What if the kris has copper/silver inlay? Do those metals have a lower melting point and do I risk 'melting' them out of the blade? (I ask because I have a maranao blade with silver inlay that's attatched to an indonesian golok hilt. How the two got together is a mystery to me. I may leave it as-it because it's interesting though. And I don't have a kris hilt handy to go with it)

If you do it with low heat the inlay will be fine. If you use a blow torch, then BE VERY VERY CAREFUL since it could have the heat (like an acetalyne or map gas torch) to melt the inlays.

I would not put any edged weapon in a 392f oven . :eek:

This whole idea scares the daylights out of me .

Much safer, IMO, to apply heat to the base of the blade where temper/hardness is not as important . :shrug:

No torches !!

^ Would a hair dryer be enough to loosen the pitch or would a heat gun be needed?

You could try applying a large copper soldering iron against it as the heat would be lower and possibly enough would flow off to warm the resin. It would have to be applied several times but it would be under control.