scratches on antique keris bilah

[Anthony G.]

If your antique keris bilah has scratches where you can see the shiny part of the metal and which is an eyesore, does a new warangan able to covers it off/away? Or should I just leave it be? What is your view?

[A. G. Maisey]

It depends Anthony.

Personally, I leave older blades alone as much as possible, a scratch here & there, a little bit of stain missing, in my opinion it is completely immaterial, its old, it does not need to be perfect, it is not on display. I accept a little bit of imperfection as normal. Every time you clean and stain you erode the blade just a little bit more. Perfection is not normal, not required in older blades.

[Anthony G.]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

It depends Anthony.

Personally, I leave older blades alone as much as possible, a scratch here & there, a little bit of stain missing, in my opinion it is completely immaterial, its old, it does not need to be perfect, it is not on display. I accept a little bit of imperfection as normal. Every time you clean and stain you erode the blade just a little bit more. Perfection is not normal, not required in older blades.

I believed you are right, I suppose I will have to just leave it be. The bilah was scratched by the warangka craftsman when he is making the scabbard for the bilah. Sigh, he is careless and inconsiderate.

[Anthony G.]

the scratch mark

[mariusgmioc]

Hmm...

I see what you mean.

If it were my blade, I would try to apply very mild etchant stricty on the scratches...