Doecon, i somehow doubt that if one were to find a place that stains iron for, as you suggested, fences, that they would be using arsenic and lime juice to do it. And as you probably are aware, while there are other substances that will darken iron while leaving nickelous material bright, none of them will give the proper color to the iron as is expected in a keris. Whatever protective treatment that companies use on iron fences would not be the same kind of thing and i don't believe warangan is applied to a keris to protect the iron anyway. Even if i were to find a company that for some reason did treat other metal objects like fences with arsenic and lime, i don't think i would be too keen on having them stain any of my keris. This is a process which involves a bit of subtelty, practice and skill so i'm not sure such workers would have the necessary understanding to get the staining right. Anyway, there is a certain satisfaction to be had in doing the job yourself. Still, if i were to find someone locally (or even in the States) who did this work correctly i might be inclined to use their services.
I am glad to hear that you have found a local place to do this work. Like Rick, i would also be interested in knowing who they are since i was unaware that there were any professional keris stainers in the United States. Do they use traditional methods?
Your statement about Alan giving his opinion on this tombak confuses me since i do not see that he has posted here. Can you explain this remark?
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