Restaining kris?

A. G. Maisey · 7th November 2011, 02:33 AM

Ron, if all you need is to see the pattern, ferric chloride is quite OK, and takes about 5 minutes. I've done literally hundreds of mechanical damascus blades, and if you've used the stuff previously, its easy.

Doing a proper, high quality, traditional stain on a keris blade is a totally different ball of wool.

On an old, previously stained blade, it might only take an hour or even less, on a newly made blade, a recent blade, a blade that has required intensive cleaning, a blade with a complex pamor, a blade with unusual pamor material --- and other unmentioned conditions --- the time used to achieve a satisfactory result can amount to quite a bit. I usually allow a day per blade, and hope it won't run into more. If you want a perfect result, then it is definitely going to take longer, maybe a lot longer.

7th November 2011, 02:33 AM	#17
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,992	Ron, if all you need is to see the pattern, ferric chloride is quite OK, and takes about 5 minutes. I've done literally hundreds of mechanical damascus blades, and if you've used the stuff previously, its easy. Doing a proper, high quality, traditional stain on a keris blade is a totally different ball of wool. On an old, previously stained blade, it might only take an hour or even less, on a newly made blade, a recent blade, a blade that has required intensive cleaning, a blade with a complex pamor, a blade with unusual pamor material --- and other unmentioned conditions --- the time used to achieve a satisfactory result can amount to quite a bit. I usually allow a day per blade, and hope it won't run into more. If you want a perfect result, then it is definitely going to take longer, maybe a lot longer.