My Bugis keris

[David]

Originally Posted by kai

Thanks for this rare glimpse on a nekkid blade of yours!

Could you add a full view, please? I have to admit that I'm not sure we're looking at a Madurese-made blade here...

Ah, sorry, no, that's all you get this time around i'm afraid.
I am fairly certain that indeed we are not looking at a a Madurese blade. But this thread isn't about this blade and i only posted these portions to venture a general question about the traditions of warangan treatment across the board.

Originally Posted by kai

BTW, I'd expect most decent keris blades from SE Asia to receive more or less sensible warangan treatment nowadays before being offered (locally or internationally); I don't think we can utilize these for judging traditional approaches of local communities anymore (most seem to be done according to Jawanese "tastes").

This is quite possible Kai and you may have noticed that i suggested as much in my post. However, i do maintain a connection with a group of (mostly) Malay collectors and their take seems to be to clean with lime not use warangan. So on the local level i am not convinced the the Javanese methods have taken hold across the entire spectrum of keris bearing cultures.