Looks a better quality piece in these shots.
If this keris were mine, I probably would not restain it, its acceptable as it is in my book. I'd certainly WD40 it, good long soak and then carefully work over it to remove as much of that surface rust as possible. Good scrub with a stiff brush and hot soapy water to start with. You can get into the grooves and hollows with fine steel wool wrapped around a sate stick --- bambu skewer.
I do not believe in cleaning and restaining a blade simply because it is slightly less than immaculate, the less you can clean a keris the better off you are. Even when a blade is heavily rusted its possibly not a good idea to try to get it 100% perfect with the first clean. I'll usually come back to a very badly rusted blade several times over several years, especially so if it is a quality blade.
|