Information On A Morro Kris

[Flavio]

Beautiful !! Is the pommel carved from hornbill? See this other thread

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=638

[Ian]

Flavio:

I believe that is a striped wood called banati, which is used quite often for pommels on barung, kris, kampilan, etc. It's a very desirable and expensive wood among moro communities.

Ian.

Originally Posted by Flavio

Beautiful !! Is the pommel carved from hornbill? See this other thread

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=638

[Flavio]

Originally Posted by Ian

Flavio:

I believe that is a striped wood called banati, which is used quite often for pommels on barung, kris, kampilan, etc. It's a very desirable and expensive wood among moro communities.

Ian.

Yes, i see now that the top piece of the pommel is a piece of ivory (is right? ) glued to the banati part, sorry

[Alan62]

If I decide to try to etch this blade myself , should I try polishing it better first to remove the old polish lines and swirls or should I just do the etching?
Any toughts on the best way a total novice should atempt to etch such a fine sword would be appreciated.Also do I need to worry about solution on the blade clamps?
I am not going to attempt anything until I feel I have the right info to do it
Thanks

[Battara]

NO I don't think any polishing is needed (based on what I can see in the pictures). The fastest way may be using ferrous cloride mixed with water. However, it is highly corrosive and the old way (and safest way) is to use heated citrus juice and vinegar (heat the blade too). On the clamps, steel wool (0000) would do fine on these particular ones (do it gently).

[Alan62]

Thanks Battara, I will do as you say

[Alan62]

Is it common for another alloy such as copper or gold to be used in the core of a blade ? Look closely at the pic ,I soaked about 6 inches of the tip of my blade in vinegar just to see what the result would be and it appears there is a whole other sword inside of this blade made of a mixed alloy with copper and the dot now looks gold. When I gently rub the blade down with lime juice or vinegar the sharp edges darken very quickly but the center does not .Soaking the end of the blade revealed what appears to be mixed cooper gold and silver or nickle down the center

[kai]

On the clamps, steel wool (0000) would do fine on these particular ones (do it gently).

BTW, I don't think these need a cleaning. If so, I'd just gently polish with jewellers rouge since even the finest steel wool will take off more material from soft copper than really needed AFAIK.

Regards,
Kai