Keris for comments

[kulbuntet]

Hi Bill,

You can buy the arsenic(waragnan) in the for as Realgar at ebay. Try to buy a as cheap as posible piece whit dark red collour. Grind it and put it in limejuice(peal off skinfirst). And let is soak(the realgar) for (IMO) 6 months in the limejuice. Use old cocos water(without the milk, it should be tranparent) to get the rust off. Soak it a hour and take a hard bursh to brush the rust off.

Regards, Michel

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by kulbuntet

Hi Bill,

You can buy the arsenic(waragnan) in the for as Realgar at ebay. Try to buy a as cheap as posible piece whit dark red collour. Grind it and put it in limejuice(peal off skinfirst). And let is soak(the realgar) for (IMO) 6 months in the limejuice. Use old cocos water(without the milk, it should be tranparent) to get the rust off. Soak it a hour and take a hard bursh to brush the rust off.

Regards, Michel

Michel,

I understand the process you say. How should I protect myself from the arsenic?

Bill

[Rick]

Avoid fumes; this work really should be done outside during the heat of Summer ... with a breeze .

I don't believe transdermal absorption is too much of a problem .
Wash hands well after or wear gloves .

The fumes IMO are the real threat .
Do this outside or with a lab grade venting fan .
Temperature is a factor also .

[A. G. Maisey]

What follows is my personal experience; it is not intended to be taken as advice or recommendation in any way .

You know, I've stained a lot of blades, and I've used a number of different ways of doing it, and I've been staining blades for about 50 years now.

For a long time I haven't concerned myself with handling the stuff when in suspension in the lime juice, nor with fumes, nor any of the other things that theoretically should be of concern.

I used to be very wary of it when I started, but after seeing the way it is used and handled in Jawa, I sort of calmed down a bit and became pretty blase about it.

Pak Parman used to crush the warangan on a piece of plastic bag placed on top of a stone dish his wife used for crushing chillies---the actual pestle didn't get covered with plastic, just rinsed off.Now don't get me wrong:- no way I'd do this myself, and I'd most strongly caution against it, however, in Jawa warangan is not treated with much respect at all.

I use arsenic trioxide, which is a fish of a different feather to warangan, and I do use reasonable caution, but that caution probably only consists of not handling the powder with my bare hands, and using untensils reserved exclusively for the job.

Temperature and humidity are both important to achieving a good result.

[kulbuntet]

I want to set my self behind the 2 others. I am learning washing now for about one year. My Teatcher (guru and dukun) usses his hands in the solution and does it inside his house and use a hair dryer to heaten the blade and the solution( THIS IS NO ADVISE!!!!). He is washing for...i dont know lots of years. He tels me that he knows when he has been to long in the arsenic, dont laugh..his balls start to tingle .

The temperature is the most important(sun light not needed, can be used to heat the blade and solution) it works as a catalist to start the reaction. The As2O3(arsenic trioxide) is more toxic than the realgar/arsenic sulfide(AsS). I use both. But always never to much safty..to less does exist..you get sick and if your realy are unlucky you can die. The LD50 dose of AsO3 is about 100mg oraly taken. Wounds on your hands and the vapor off the heated solution are the biggest dangers. Use medical gloves iff you want to be sure....and when your balls tingle...get out of there

[David]

Originally Posted by kulbuntet

Use medical gloves iff you want to be sure....and when your balls tingle...get out of there

LOL!

[A. G. Maisey]

Nothing written here below is intended in any way to be advice or instruction, and I caution most strongly against the use of any of the methods that are detailed herein.


There are many ways to stain a keris blade.

All will produce some sort of result.

However, there is only one way to produce a quality result, and that involves massaging into the blade the lime juice into which the arsenic or warangan has been stirred.

The suspension is brushed onto the blade, and then it is massaged with a pinching action until the blade becomes very sticky; more suspension is applied and the procedure is repeated time and time again until the desired colour is achieved. The blade is then rinsed with water, dried with a lint free cloth, and then dried in direct sunlight. Then the complete procedure is repeated again however many times required, until the blade is the correct colour.

If this procedure is carried out on a dull, cloudy day, the resulting stain will lack life; it will be a fair stain, but it will not lift and sparkle. The same, but more so applies if it is done inside.

If the suspension dries too quickly the result will take too long to achieve, and because of this length of time involved, the result will be dull. It is best not to carry out the procedure on a very hot day, and neither the blade, nor the suspension should be heated. When I have done this job in Solo, I have found that the best time is about 8am to 11am during the dry season. That means low relative humidity and a temperature of around 25 to 30 degrees celsius.

If the suspension dries too slowly it will generate yellowish green spots under the black.

The two factors that principally affect drying speed are temperature and humidity.

Excellence of the final result also depends very strongly upon the blade being absolutely white and free of any rust prior to commencement.

Here is a photo of me staining a blade, this shows clearly the way in which the suspension is massaged into the metal.