Agarwood oil for keris?

[A. G. Maisey]

Actually, I sort of half agree with Ariel.

My usual treatment for a keris blade is a thorough drench with WD40, I allow that to dry off overnight, it leaves a very light deposit on the blade, then I paint the blade with sandalwood @ 45% + kenongo @ 5% + medicinal paraffin @ 50%, all these percentages are approximate. Then I wrap the blade in a plastic sleeve. Blades treated in this way will remain protected for years without further attention.

However, if I were to ignore tradition and were to be charged with providing the best protection possible, I would use a high quality modern gun oil + controlled humidity and temperature + storage on glass or perhaps perspex.

The thing about WD40 is that it penetrates:- it gets into the grain of the metal, into places that the heavier oils just don't reach, but sit in little gobs on top of the pore, I've seen this under a microscope, and often it seems that our heavier bodied oils provide their protection by sealing a pore by coagulation over its opening, but not by coating the actual surface of the indentation of the pore.