Keris

A. G. Maisey · 19th November 2015, 06:59 PM

Roland, I had never heard the term "creeping oil" before your post.

I immediately checked this term and I found that it is the oil we know as "penetrating oil".

The oil that David has recommended is in fact a penetrating oil:- WD40

I usually use this, but I have also used another penetrating oil:- Penetrol, but that was years back.

Ballistol is essentially a gun oil, and I've used it on firearms, never on keris, but it would provide a good long term protection on keris and other edged weapons, however, the smell is not appropriate for items of tosan aji.

I don't like heat guns to apply heat to a blade to assist in hilt removal. It is too difficult to control the heat dispersion and it can also heat the hilt as well as the blade, which can damage the hilt. A small flame is preferable to apply heat to a blade.

The big problem with a hilt that is difficult to remove from a keris is that the tang can be heavily rusted, locking it to the hilt and splitting the hilt. In these circumstances the tang will sometimes break. This is not something that we want to happen, but it can be fixed.

The tang can be replaced, the broken tang can be drilled out of the hilt. But both these jobs need to be approached with a great deal of care and more than a little skill.

19th November 2015, 06:59 PM	#10
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,992	Roland, I had never heard the term "creeping oil" before your post. I immediately checked this term and I found that it is the oil we know as "penetrating oil". The oil that David has recommended is in fact a penetrating oil:- WD40 I usually use this, but I have also used another penetrating oil:- Penetrol, but that was years back. Ballistol is essentially a gun oil, and I've used it on firearms, never on keris, but it would provide a good long term protection on keris and other edged weapons, however, the smell is not appropriate for items of tosan aji. I don't like heat guns to apply heat to a blade to assist in hilt removal. It is too difficult to control the heat dispersion and it can also heat the hilt as well as the blade, which can damage the hilt. A small flame is preferable to apply heat to a blade. The big problem with a hilt that is difficult to remove from a keris is that the tang can be heavily rusted, locking it to the hilt and splitting the hilt. In these circumstances the tang will sometimes break. This is not something that we want to happen, but it can be fixed. The tang can be replaced, the broken tang can be drilled out of the hilt. But both these jobs need to be approached with a great deal of care and more than a little skill.