Arsenic or realgar for Keris etching?

[ganjawulung]

Originally Posted by Tatyana Dianova

I still have the "sterling arsenic" hidden in the dark corner, but I haven't tried it yet. Really I do not have a good working place to use it safely... The Bali blade was stained on Bali: Mr. Michael Wahle from Bali-Artshop in Germany has brought it on Bali and gave to (-I believe-) Mr. Ketut Karang for staining and sheath making...

Staining is such an "art". I don't even stain my kerises by myself, although I have "warangan jadi" (ready to use warangan) and I can stain kerises by myself. You need at least all day long, non-stop free time to stain your kerises. Not including cleaning first your blade from rust with coconut's water for couple of days, and then your blades need to be processed with 'mutih' -- brushed and brushed, again and again with 'jeruk nipis' (lime juice) mixed with cream-soap (sorry, I have difficulty in explaining the process). Anyway, staining is not that simple -- just soak the blade into the ready-to-use-warangan... Usually I clean my self the keris blades, and then 'mutih' the kerises. But then, I gave the further process of 'mewarangi' to the specialist.

There are a couple of 'ahli warangan' or keris staining specialists in Jakarta, and of course in Solo, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Madura, Bali...

Originally Posted by semar

this warangan that i show you
comes from a friend of my from surabaya
mij friend cleaning the keris for a living
and i think whem you cleaning the keris everyday
you know wich warangan works the best

Yes, usually I bought warangan (more precise, 'chinese' warangan) from Surabayanese friends too. In Solo, people used to buy at a special shop, traditional herb shop such as Akar Sari in Coyudan, not far from Karaton Solo but not as good quality as 'chinese' warangan from Surabaya and Jakarta. I have example of two kinds of warangan. People said, the 'yellowish' one is better...

GANJAWULUNG