[kai]

Hello Bill,

I would also like to see the tang and have a better clamp, but I am concerned about the handle. It already has a crack, and I am concerned the trauma of removing it would break it, though I could be wrong. It is also on very tight, so my usual method of heating the blade would probably crack the handle.

Removing the hilt by carefully heating the blade should be possible without damage. Horn hilts like this one almost always come with hairline cracks due to age and, especially, due to storage in low humidity. More often than not, this is not a major issue if one is not living in a very low humidity climate and can avoid humidity and temperature fluctuations. Actually, I'd expect any cracks to become smaller in Bill's controlled environment...

I know the handle is wrong, but do not know what would be better? So replacing this handle might be a problem. If we could arrive at a consensus of what an appropriate handle should look like, maybe I could get a right one made(?)

I'm not positive that the hilt really is wrong: Kris fitted by Malays seem to have non-standard hilts fairly often. And this one is certainly not a cheap, hurried replacement for selling this piece to unsuspecting travellers. Many of these kris also don't have clamps (or rather poor ones as in this case) but I think this blade really calls for one, and possibly a better one at that.

Could we get some better answers if I clean and stain?

I'm afraid that we're mostly limited by missing data/knowledge and possibly won't get more answers. However, if I were you, I'd at least do a vinegar stain as suitable for Moro kris. If other, more experienced folks don't come up with with more info on a likely origin, I'd tempted to try warangan on this one and to let the result decide wether to leave it on...

I have one other picture that may provide another clue. The metal that usually goes up into the hilt seems to come out just above the ferrule.

Too much gunk but it does seem to be a fairly stout tang, isn't it?

Regards,
Kai