New Keris--Balinese?

A. G. Maisey · 21st April 2008, 11:46 PM

Daniel, what you do with this keris probably depends upon your plans for it.

If you intend to sell it, give it a good soak with WD40, brush vigorously, and market it as is.

If you intend to keep it, polish the blade with powder sink cleaner, give it a couple of days in a pineapple juice bath, and restain it. Yes, it will not display brilliant contrasting pamor, but it will show a distinct colour difference between the steel core and the iron skin, that iron skin will show nice grain, in fact, it will come up a pretty decent, genuine old keris.

Not all old keris were works of art, and not all old keris had beautiful high contrast pamor. A keris such as yours could well have been more likely to see use as a weapon than a keris dripping with pizzazz.

In short, its an OK keris, the dress is horrible, but at least its got dress, and I would guess that you paid on the low side for it. Just keep your eyes open for genuine old dress, it sometimes comes up in ebay, and I guess in other places.Provided the wrongko is bigger than the dimensions of the blade, it can be made to fit. This keris is not worth the expense of placing a special order for new dress of the correct style.

21st April 2008, 11:46 PM	#8
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,992	Daniel, what you do with this keris probably depends upon your plans for it. If you intend to sell it, give it a good soak with WD40, brush vigorously, and market it as is. If you intend to keep it, polish the blade with powder sink cleaner, give it a couple of days in a pineapple juice bath, and restain it. Yes, it will not display brilliant contrasting pamor, but it will show a distinct colour difference between the steel core and the iron skin, that iron skin will show nice grain, in fact, it will come up a pretty decent, genuine old keris. Not all old keris were works of art, and not all old keris had beautiful high contrast pamor. A keris such as yours could well have been more likely to see use as a weapon than a keris dripping with pizzazz. In short, its an OK keris, the dress is horrible, but at least its got dress, and I would guess that you paid on the low side for it. Just keep your eyes open for genuine old dress, it sometimes comes up in ebay, and I guess in other places.Provided the wrongko is bigger than the dimensions of the blade, it can be made to fit. This keris is not worth the expense of placing a special order for new dress of the correct style.