Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

mrwizard · 1st March 2011, 10:47 PM

Thanks for all the input and the pictures of other samples.
The repairs look almost exactly like the repair on my blade.

This seams to be a common technique to repair a
broken peksi. In fact it must have been so common the technique was also applied to moro kris.
The latter is rather surprising (or at least to me) as the Moro kris is primarily a slashing weapon. The forces on the tang area must be immense and i wouldn't trust my life on a repair like this -- even if the smith is a master on fire-welding as the keris and kris makers doubtlessly are.

Here is how i think the repair process looked like
1. soft annealing of the blade
2. cutting a rectangular piece from the broken peksi tang area
3. forging a replacement peksi with tight fitting rectangular top -- ideally using material from the old ganja.
4. fire-welding the parts together. Even if the old smiths had a flux like borax this would be very difficult as hammering on the interface would certainly lead to deformations.
4. Hardening & annealing the blade
5. Refinishing the the now surely oxidised surface of the blade

I'm am sure after refinishing the blade must look like new. The rectangular areas we see, appear after several etchings and mostly because there is some oxide on the interface indicating an imperfect weld. This might be okay for a stabbing weapon like a keris but not for a kris.

If i would repair a broken tang on a kris it would probably look like the kris in this thread:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11663

Edit: or like this
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...2&postcount=14

Please correct me if you think i am wrong...

Best Regards,
Thilo

1st March 2011, 10:47 PM	#5
mrwizard Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Dortmund, Germany Posts: 102	Thanks for all the input and the pictures of other samples. The repairs look almost exactly like the repair on my blade. This seams to be a common technique to repair a broken peksi. In fact it must have been so common the technique was also applied to moro kris. The latter is rather surprising (or at least to me) as the Moro kris is primarily a slashing weapon. The forces on the tang area must be immense and i wouldn't trust my life on a repair like this -- even if the smith is a master on fire-welding as the keris and kris makers doubtlessly are. Here is how i think the repair process looked like 1. soft annealing of the blade 2. cutting a rectangular piece from the broken peksi tang area 3. forging a replacement peksi with tight fitting rectangular top -- ideally using material from the old ganja. 4. fire-welding the parts together. Even if the old smiths had a flux like borax this would be very difficult as hammering on the interface would certainly lead to deformations. 4. Hardening & annealing the blade 5. Refinishing the the now surely oxidised surface of the blade I'm am sure after refinishing the blade must look like new. The rectangular areas we see, appear after several etchings and mostly because there is some oxide on the interface indicating an imperfect weld. This might be okay for a stabbing weapon like a keris but not for a kris. If i would repair a broken tang on a kris it would probably look like the kris in this thread: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11663 Edit: or like this http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...2&postcount=14 Please correct me if you think i am wrong... Best Regards, Thilo Last edited by mrwizard; 1st March 2011 at 11:01 PM. Reason: found the repair example i was looking for