Bali keris hilt - to glue or thread?

marto suwignyo · 12th October 2005, 11:24 PM

Mr. Battara

In olden times the handles of keris were most often fixed to the pesi with damar. I have read that in pre war Malaya people used melted gramaphone records to fix keris handles in place.

These days, we do sometimes use jabung, which a mixture of damar, wax and ground terracotta, to fix a handle with a short or thin pesi. This can be easily removed if it necessary by gentle application of heat to the sorsoran.

Sometimes hair has been used.

If your keris has a normally strong pesi, and if it Bali keris it probably will have, you should just use a pressure fit, as everybody else has already said.However, rather than use cloth I suggest that you use knitting wool.
Cloth does not compress very well, and if the handle too tight it might split.

12th October 2005, 11:24 PM	#8
marto suwignyo Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 52	Mr. Battara In olden times the handles of keris were most often fixed to the pesi with damar. I have read that in pre war Malaya people used melted gramaphone records to fix keris handles in place. These days, we do sometimes use jabung, which a mixture of damar, wax and ground terracotta, to fix a handle with a short or thin pesi. This can be easily removed if it necessary by gentle application of heat to the sorsoran. Sometimes hair has been used. If your keris has a normally strong pesi, and if it Bali keris it probably will have, you should just use a pressure fit, as everybody else has already said.However, rather than use cloth I suggest that you use knitting wool. Cloth does not compress very well, and if the handle too tight it might split.