Keris for comment

[Drabant1701]

Originally Posted by David

What did you use to etch this blade?

I read that the correct way to etch keris is with arsenic and lime. I had lime-juice but no arsenic, lime juice alone did not etch at all. Lemon juice did not do much either. Finaly I tried dilluted Ferric Chloride (about 20%) that etched pretty quickly, I did not etch very long since ferric is rather strong.

[Rick]

I think if you used arsenic & Lime you would see a reverse effect.
Almost like negative to positive in photography.
My cousin to your blade was done with arsenic & lime.

I don't know if you can get any where you live, but iirc it must be white arsenic.

[Drabant1701]

Originally Posted by Rick

I think if you used arsenic & Lime you would see a reverse effect.
Almost like negative to positive in photography.
My cousin to your blade was done with arsenic & lime.

I don't know if you can get any where you live, but iirc it must be white arsenic.

Interesting. I cant get arsenic here so that is not an option. But it would look better if the effect was reversed. Is there any alternetive method that would produce a result similar to arsenic and lime?

[drdavid]

Hi Drabant
if you search the forum you will find plenty on staining, there is some pretty comprehensive advice. Unfortunately nothing will give you the same effect as the traditional arsenic based method.
cheers
DrD

[Rick]

Perhaps some of our forum members can help via a PM .

[mariusgmioc]

You won't be able to find Arsenic anywhere in Europe or US since it is labeled as poison.

I have experimented with ferric chloride, Nital and Perma Blue, but nothing worked right (albeit they work quite well for etching wootz or normal pattern welded steel). So I ended up sending my blade for a reasonable sum back to Indonesia where it received the right treatment and got it back in stunning condition.

I suggest you ask Seerp Visser a about his method of etching Keris blades. While I didn't test it myself, I remember seeing his blades and one could swear they are traditionally etched.

[David]

Originally Posted by mariusgmioc

You won't be able to find Arsenic anywhere in Europe or US since it is labeled as poison.

Well, i can say that is not exactly true. You cannot buy arsenic trioxide directly without a government certificate, if you can find a local company that is able to purchase and can show them what you are using it for you may get lucky and make a deal with them if they are willing. I know from personal experience that such a scenario is indeed possible, though it is not likely.
However, you can, AFAIK, purchase the mineral Realgar in the USA, which is an arsenic sulfide. If you search this site you will find further discussion on it. While i would say that lab quality arsenic trioxide is a better, more consistent product, many people use Realgar to stain keris due to it's availability. Buying the mineral whole means grinding it up yourself, which is a mess i don't recommend, but i have seen pure powdered Realgar for sale regularly on eBay, so if you would like to try it give it a google and it should turn up.
While i have seen a few examples of passable staining done with non-warangan concoctions i don't believe any of them will give pamor the "correct" look as will arsenic and lime.
If i were unable to stain my own blades when needed i would probably send them out to be done to Indonesia. As you point out the sum for the work is generally very reasonable. The postage would be more expensive than the treatment and of course there is the time waiting...