Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 31st January 2022, 09:56 PM

SJ, the plastic I use is purchased in 100 meter rolls, it is used in Indonesia by people who sell snack foods, they fold and seal one end over a candle, put the food inside, then seal the other end, it comes in various widths & various thicknesses.

When I have run out of it, I've used sandwich cling wrap. I only wrap the blade and I normally store that oiled and wrapped blade in the wrongko, usually with the top inch or so of the blade not in the wrongko. This is practical, and I have had some keris stored like this for more than 50 years with only an occasional re-oil. I live waterfront to a salt water lake. Those blades are as good now as they were when I first stored them.

But if you want the best way to do it --- short of modern museum conditions --- you should store each part separately.

Medicinal paraffin is mineral oil, so is Singer sewing machine oil.

There are better oils for protection than what I prefer, but gun oil has an ugly smell on keris, I use gun oil on my firearms, I use light mineral oil and aromatic oil on my keris.

If the applied gold is true kinatah it has been mechanically fixed, but a lot of current era "kinatah" is fixed with adhesive. If your keris has genuine, mechanically fixed kinatah, the oil will not harm it, if it has "kinatah" fixed with adhesive, it will loosen over time when oil is applied.

I have never observed any unwanted blade staining with any oil I have ever used.

The easiest way to keep silver looking good is to use a silver polishing cloth. I only ever use Goddards, which is made in England. I have tried other brands in the past and have found them unsatisfactory in one way or another.

The hilt will definitely require some patience & delicacy in maintenance, but that maintenance does not need to be often, I leave things go for years sometimes, I do not have the time, nor the inclination to fiddle around with literally hundreds of keris continually, and I do not have the money to pay somebody to do it for me. I do things very infrequently, but when I do work on my collection I do it properly and do it once.

31st January 2022, 09:56 PM	#27
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,704	SJ, the plastic I use is purchased in 100 meter rolls, it is used in Indonesia by people who sell snack foods, they fold and seal one end over a candle, put the food inside, then seal the other end, it comes in various widths & various thicknesses. When I have run out of it, I've used sandwich cling wrap. I only wrap the blade and I normally store that oiled and wrapped blade in the wrongko, usually with the top inch or so of the blade not in the wrongko. This is practical, and I have had some keris stored like this for more than 50 years with only an occasional re-oil. I live waterfront to a salt water lake. Those blades are as good now as they were when I first stored them. But if you want the best way to do it --- short of modern museum conditions --- you should store each part separately. Medicinal paraffin is mineral oil, so is Singer sewing machine oil. There are better oils for protection than what I prefer, but gun oil has an ugly smell on keris, I use gun oil on my firearms, I use light mineral oil and aromatic oil on my keris. If the applied gold is true kinatah it has been mechanically fixed, but a lot of current era "kinatah" is fixed with adhesive. If your keris has genuine, mechanically fixed kinatah, the oil will not harm it, if it has "kinatah" fixed with adhesive, it will loosen over time when oil is applied. I have never observed any unwanted blade staining with any oil I have ever used. The easiest way to keep silver looking good is to use a silver polishing cloth. I only ever use Goddards, which is made in England. I have tried other brands in the past and have found them unsatisfactory in one way or another. The hilt will definitely require some patience & delicacy in maintenance, but that maintenance does not need to be often, I leave things go for years sometimes, I do not have the time, nor the inclination to fiddle around with literally hundreds of keris continually, and I do not have the money to pay somebody to do it for me. I do things very infrequently, but when I do work on my collection I do it properly and do it once.