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Originally Posted by Mans
About the Acid Bath (Warangan), it is an a part of the whole on the Keris Cultures. To give the warangan, we must do some phase from Mutih/Methak, nyelup 'till give it the keris oil. It is a very difficult activities and complicated too. We must know well about the characteristic of the iron and pamor material and when we should take away the keris from Warangan in order to get the optimal output. So that why just a few people can and wish to do it.
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Hi Mans. I'm not sure if you misunderstood me or if you just wanted to add the above information. I wasn't implying that the examples in Jensen's book would not have received warangan treatment, but since they have been in museum collections since the 1600s they did not while the Javanese blades you show from the same era were washed over centuries with much blade erosion. Hard to compare physical attributions between them comsidering. It is also my understanding that Javanese blades were once polished in the manner that we gererally see Balinese blades. This makes comparison even more difficult since these Jensen examples appear to have such a polished finish while your examples have the rough etched finish that has become the custon in Jawa as well as other islands.
Having spent the last few years working on my skills with warangan i can attest first hand to the difficulties of blade staining. I have had to stain some s few times before getting them "right" and still have a few i've done that need reworking. But when you get it right it is very satisfying.
