My Bugis keris

[David]

You know, we have talked about the difference in how keris are maintained in various South East Asian cultures, but frankly, i am still not exactly clear on what areas do what. AFAIK, Jawa, Bali, Madura and at least some parts of Sumatra consider staining a blade with warangan a traditional part of the process. Balinese blades tend to have their surfaces polished first. My understanding of the Malay Peninsula is that neither warangan nor polishing is the accepted process. But is there any consistency in the Bugis culture from island to island? Here is a Sulawesi blade that has a full warangan treatment. It was purchased from a dealer in Singapore and AFAIK it has never been outside SEA before it came into my hands, so this is not the work of a Western collector (though it may have been done for Western tastes?). But i have seen many other Bugis blades that don't seem to have ever received such treatment. I would love to form a list of how all these different SEA cultures treat their blades traditionally.