Bjorn, sometimes , in fact often, the mendak is not a snug fit on the tang of a keris.
In older keris the tang is frequently very worn, eroded and thin, then the mendak will turn freely unless it is held in place by pressure from the hilt. In this situation, the best thing to do is to wind the thread that holds the hilt in place, all the way down the tang so that it prevents the mendak from moving back and forth. In the old days when hilts were held in place with jabung, the mendak was effectively held with jabung.
The thing is this, there is little standardisation in the case of mendak/tang/hilt. Often a Javanese planar hilt will have the bottom of the hilt recessed to accept a mendak, but just as often you need to try 20 or more mendak before you get an ideal fit. Sometimes a tang on a keris will be too thick for the general run of mendak, then you need to ream the mendak out --- if its just a couple of thou difference --- or get a mendak made specially, and special size mendak are not at all cheap or fast and easy to get.
The function of the mendak is not only to form a transition from hilt to blade, but also to act as a "shock absorber" if the blade strikes bone when it is used.
The way in which most keris are intended to be held means that the index finger is anchored against the top of the gonjo, if the blade tip jams up against bone, or anything hard, that will bring the blade to a jarring stop, and unless the user is wearing a keris ring --- something that seems not to have been usual for a long time, at least in Jawa --- the top of the gonjo will very likely damage the user's index finger.
Thus the mendak, rather than the metuk:- the mendak collapses and absorbs some of the shock. It does not need to be a firm, neat fit, it only needs to be in place and collapsible. The angkup randu style that is found on most old Madura and East Jawa keris is perhaps the most effect "shock absorber" of any mendak.
But of course, in a dress keris everything should be as neat as possible.
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