Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 20th January 2007, 08:53 PM

Henk, let's settle one thing first:-

I am not a master.

I might know a little bit about keris, and some of the things connected to keris.

In the field of keris I do not believe anybody can lay claim to being a "master".

Those of us who have devoted considerable time to the study of keris seem to have gathered information about different aspects of the keris, from different quarters. None of us have it all : we all have a little bit.

To clean a blade I have found tinned pineapple juice to be the best agent by far. I've tried a few different things, but only with pineapple juice can I leave a frail old blade in the juice for 2 or 3 weeks, and know that it will do absolutely no damage to the metal.

In my experience the only satisfactory fruit juice to use with the arsenic for staining is Tahitian lime juice. The full process that I use is available through the link that David provided. Scroll down until you come to a post by Wong Desa.

I probably should add this:- the method I have given is only one of many, but it is the one that I think will give an inexperienced person the most reliable result. There is one method that will give a far better result than any other method, however I am not prepared to publish this method because it is potentially very dangerous, and in the absence of hands on personal instruction there is a very high probability of misunderstanding on how it is done.

20th January 2007, 08:53 PM	#20
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,763	Henk, let's settle one thing first:- I am not a master. I might know a little bit about keris, and some of the things connected to keris. In the field of keris I do not believe anybody can lay claim to being a "master". Those of us who have devoted considerable time to the study of keris seem to have gathered information about different aspects of the keris, from different quarters. None of us have it all : we all have a little bit. To clean a blade I have found tinned pineapple juice to be the best agent by far. I've tried a few different things, but only with pineapple juice can I leave a frail old blade in the juice for 2 or 3 weeks, and know that it will do absolutely no damage to the metal. In my experience the only satisfactory fruit juice to use with the arsenic for staining is Tahitian lime juice. The full process that I use is available through the link that David provided. Scroll down until you come to a post by Wong Desa. I probably should add this:- the method I have given is only one of many, but it is the one that I think will give an inexperienced person the most reliable result. There is one method that will give a far better result than any other method, however I am not prepared to publish this method because it is potentially very dangerous, and in the absence of hands on personal instruction there is a very high probability of misunderstanding on how it is done.