Now I have a Tajong!!

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by kai

Congrats, Detlef!

Also looks genuine to me; nothing which would hint at the dreaded Bali fake "antiques"...

If you're not frequenting very expensive supermarkets, the apparently undamaged scabbard alone will be worth it (looks very nice!) and everything else being a bonus. Make sure the package gets wrapped well to protect the wooden fittings from damage!

Am looking forward to seeing close-ups of the (19th c.?) hilt! Obtaining a good pendokok from Malaysia should be possible.

The tip of the blade seems to have suffered from extensive corrosion - still better having the original blade rather than a modern replacement, I guess.

Regards,
Kai

Thank's Kai, I think aside from this that they don't sell fakes in the late sixties.

The supermarkets I used to visit are not expensiv but I have two children; still I think it's a bargain. And the wrapping order for the seller have been detailed.

Hope it will be possible to obtain a nice pendokok.

Pictures will follow when I have it in my own hands.

Regards,
Detlef

[Alam Shah]

Congratulations! Looks like a nice piece.. The pendokok can be custom-made if you wish. Make a mould of the base area (buah pinang) of the hilt. It would be good enough to make a custom-fit pendokok. There's quite a few designs to choose from. Later, close-up pictures of the blade base and tip, would be nice..

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Alam Shah

Congratulations! Looks like a nice piece.. The pendokok can be custom-made if you wish. Make a mould of the base area (buah pinang) of the hilt. It would be good enough to make a custom-fit pendokok. There's quite a few designs to choose from. Later, close-up pictures of the blade base and tip, would be nice..

Hello Alam, thank's. I will contact you again when I have the keris by pm to get further informations. Of course I will post better pictures after I have received the keris.

Regards,

Detlef

[Sajen]

Yesterday I received the keris. The hilt was broken and reglued by someone without skill. The nose is a replacement from longer before done by someone with better skill but not perfect. When I look to "Spirit of Wood" I believe that the hilt is from the middle of the 19th c and I think that all belong together; so I think that the keris orginate from this time. What do you think? The sheat is heavy patinated and have only a very small old chip at one of the beaks. The blade have old patinated corrosion and is suffered by corrosion like Kai have supposed.
All comments are welcome, special for restoration tips I am grateful.

[Sajen]

More pictures:

[kai]

Hello Detlef,

I hope the experts will join in for dating. I see some genuine wear and can relate to the suggested age - have been wrong before though...

The sheat is heavy patinated and have only a very small old chip at one of the beaks.

The scabbard is the real prize here, IMHO. Very nice old piece - a bit of cleaning and some wax will probably do. I'd take it for the price any day...

From the pics, I'm not convinced that the scabbard was made for the blade though - fit seems ok but has some gaps. A gentle pineapple juice cleaning will help stopping active rust (the tip of the blade is corroded enough that this won't make it look worse); I don't think it's worth to repolish the blade since the tip area can't be restored to a traditional shape. I'd keep it as an ol' piece of history. BTW, the wire is only there to hold the hulu, isn't it? (If so, I'd remove it...)

I'm not sure wether redoing the glued hilt would be a good idea - may be less prone to additional cracking if you just cover the glue with some hard wax of a corresponding color. Regluing the beak may be more feasible though. However, since the wood doesn't correspond to the hulu, a possible strategy would be covering it with gold foil? (Suasa would be traditional but expensive.)

All in all, I believe this old piece will look nice when displayed sheathed with an added pendokok.

Regards,
Kai

[BluErf]

I do not recommend touching the hilt unless you are very handy at woodworking. And even then, what I'd recommend is to just fill in the gap between the face and the nose with wood filler. Given the close proximity to the face, I thought you may have to carefully break the nose to do a clean job.

Sheath-wise, the gunk can be cleaned with a very diluted dishwashing liquid and steelwool. Be careful not to overclean it and take off too much of the old finish.

Blade is already pretty corroded. Maybe a stop-rust strategy might be better than to really clean off the rust?

[Sajen]

The sheat I will clean careful with steelwool and it will get a new cover with shellac to give it back a primal glory. The blade I try to clean careful from corrosion. The hilt I clean already careful and I was able to open the nose without break and I think that I can reglue it better. Is this an "original" repair from the nose (see the pictures)?