Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Where can we get Cold Blue? Attn Alan Maisey or anyone who lives in Australia

A. G. Maisey · 18th February 2014, 08:22 PM

David, I am not presuming to answer on behalf of Silkreeler, and I hope that he will give you his own response, however, getting a blade stained well, and correctly, is no longer easy in Jawa, and I doubt it has ever been easy in other places in Indonesia.

For many years the primary source of quality warangan was Toko Vera in Pasar Gede, Solo. They used to supply re-sellers all over Jawa, and further afield, however, a few years ago the old stock that they had been relying on for many years ran out, and they obtained some more from India, which was not much good at all and caused the users a lot of problems. Now that has run out as well and apart from the difficulty of locating satisfactory material, government regulation now prohibits the import of warangan, which is, of course, a form of arsenic. Toko Vera is owned by members of my wife's extended family and is run by her nephew and his wife.

The cost of getting a poor warangan job done in Solo has escalated. It is now extremely expensive to get a job done that 5 years ago I would not have accepted, but now you cannot get a better job done. Decent short-term work is still being done in Surabaya and other places in East Jawa, but the operative word is "short-term". It looks pretty OK directly after it has been done but it will not last for many years, as the old jobs used to. I've seen these current jobs, both from Surabaya and from Solo go bad within 2 or 3 years.

I believe that this problem will sort itself out sooner or later, people will begin to use lab quality white arsenic, but those people will be educated, qualified people who have the required govt. qualifications to be in possession of and use, this hazardous chemical, and because of this required certification + the cost of the material, a blade stain will no longer be a nice, comparatively cheap little addition to a blade, but will cost as much as or more than the blade itself.

Blades have not been stained in Bali for as long as I've been going to Indonesia --- dealers there say they are stained there, but they are not, Bali blades are sent to Surabaya.

Those of us who live in the western world and who do understand how to correctly stain a blade now carry knowledge that could well disappear in Jawa.

18th February 2014, 08:22 PM	#5
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,700	David, I am not presuming to answer on behalf of Silkreeler, and I hope that he will give you his own response, however, getting a blade stained well, and correctly, is no longer easy in Jawa, and I doubt it has ever been easy in other places in Indonesia. For many years the primary source of quality warangan was Toko Vera in Pasar Gede, Solo. They used to supply re-sellers all over Jawa, and further afield, however, a few years ago the old stock that they had been relying on for many years ran out, and they obtained some more from India, which was not much good at all and caused the users a lot of problems. Now that has run out as well and apart from the difficulty of locating satisfactory material, government regulation now prohibits the import of warangan, which is, of course, a form of arsenic. Toko Vera is owned by members of my wife's extended family and is run by her nephew and his wife. The cost of getting a poor warangan job done in Solo has escalated. It is now extremely expensive to get a job done that 5 years ago I would not have accepted, but now you cannot get a better job done. Decent short-term work is still being done in Surabaya and other places in East Jawa, but the operative word is "short-term". It looks pretty OK directly after it has been done but it will not last for many years, as the old jobs used to. I've seen these current jobs, both from Surabaya and from Solo go bad within 2 or 3 years. I believe that this problem will sort itself out sooner or later, people will begin to use lab quality white arsenic, but those people will be educated, qualified people who have the required govt. qualifications to be in possession of and use, this hazardous chemical, and because of this required certification + the cost of the material, a blade stain will no longer be a nice, comparatively cheap little addition to a blade, but will cost as much as or more than the blade itself. Blades have not been stained in Bali for as long as I've been going to Indonesia --- dealers there say they are stained there, but they are not, Bali blades are sent to Surabaya. Those of us who live in the western world and who do understand how to correctly stain a blade now carry knowledge that could well disappear in Jawa.