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Old 15th November 2013, 03:05 PM   #1
blue lander
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Default A possibly rehandled klewang

I bought this off e-bay from an indonesian seller as a klewang, though the shape to me looks more like some sort of golok. The seller believed the blade was older than the handle or sheath. The sheath does look like a newer, shiner wood to me and it doesn't exactly fit the blade, but the handle looks pretty old. The blade itself has a lot of small cracks that look superficial, and the edge itself looks like it's crumbling apart. I don't see any evidence of a steel core peeking through where the nickle/iron has crumbled away.

It looks like the bolster used to have some sort of outer layer wrapped around it, you can still see a little of it left. It looks like silver to me, maybe it was scavanged at some point. You can also see a faint pattern on the spine of the blade. It's barely visible in pictures, so I took the liberty of drawing the pattern I see on the picture.

The rest of the handle is in pretty rough shape, but it's still quite sturdy. It looks like there may have been something wrapped around it as well, or maybe it's just a pattern carved into the wood.

The handle and sheath have what looks like sticky residue from packing tape or something. Can I clean it off with a citrus based product like "goo gone" without damaging the wood?
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Old 15th November 2013, 05:31 PM   #2
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THE HANDLE MAY BE HORN RATHER THAN WOOD AND LIKELY WAS ORIGINAL TO THE BLADE. THESE OLD PARMOR BLADES ARE OFTEN THIN AND BRITTLE AND I HAVE OFTEN WONDERED HOW THEY WOULD HOLD UP IN USE EITHER FOR WORK OR WAR. I HAVE SOME WHERE ONLY A SHARD OF THE BLADE REMAINS. I DON'T KNOW WHAT EFFECT GOOF OFF OR OTHER GOO REMOVERS WOULD HAVE PERHAPS IT MIGHT BE GENTLY SCRAPED OFF OR TRY SOME MINERAL OIL ON IT FIRST. GOOD LUCK
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Old 15th November 2013, 09:42 PM   #3
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It is a golok. It could also be a pedang.
he handle is probaly a replacement and looks like an older golok handle.
The scabbard is a recent made golok sheath for those who like to travel.
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Old 15th November 2013, 10:38 PM   #4
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I think you're right, the handle does look like buffalo horn or something. I'll try something milder to remove the adhesive first. This blade is still pretty stout, the spine is around 8mm thick at the base of the blade and tapers off quickly and rather unevenly. You can see a curve in the edge where the sharp part of the blade begins, as if it had been ground down or sharpened many times. Or maybe it was just made that way.

I've never heard of a pedang, I'll have to look that one up. Do the markings on the spine point to a specific origin or culture, or are they just a decoration?
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Old 16th November 2013, 12:58 AM   #5
Amuk Murugul
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blue lander
I think you're right, the handle does look like buffalo horn or something. I'll try something milder to remove the adhesive first. This blade is still pretty stout, the spine is around 8mm thick at the base of the blade and tapers off quickly and rather unevenly. You can see a curve in the edge where the sharp part of the blade begins, as if it had been ground down or sharpened many times. Or maybe it was just made that way.

I've never heard of a pedang, I'll have to look that one up. Do the markings on the spine point to a specific origin or culture, or are they just a decoration?
Hullo everybody!
The handle is most likely buffalo horn, given the structure of the blade. The picture is not clear enough for me to see. It looks like it could be a 'djengkol saboengkoel'.
The 'striped' structure of the blade is designed for hardness and resilience. This is traditional Soenda. It is known as 'SOELANGKAR'. It is the way the smiths learnt to make goloks of superior quality to those made by the, then, traditional methods (prior to about 12thC).
The taper of the spine allowed for the cutting-edge to be functional all along the blade, which is typical of a golok (a utility chopper primarily designed for hacking).
As to whether yours is a golok (chopper/hacker) or a pedang (sword), one has to look at the blade cutting-edge; if it's sharpened primarily for hacking, then it's a golok; if it's sharpened primarily for slicing, then it's a pedang.
The markings are merely decoration of traditional motifs. E.g., the one with 'sawteeth' in between parallel lines is referred to as a 'paoet njere' motif.

Best,
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Old 18th November 2013, 02:40 PM   #6
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Thank you for the information. I'm going to try to take a more detailed picture. Is there any way to tell roughly how old this golok is? The blade has a very rough texture and feels more like it's made out of sandstone than metal. If you run your finger nail down the blade you can actually feel the laminations. It also sparkles sometimes if it catches the light just right.

In my completely amateur and uninformed opinion, the cutting edge looks more to me like a sabre. I have a modern Zelsa golok which has a much thicker grind in comparison even though they're about the same thickness at the spine.

Can we learn anything from looking at the distal taper? It tapers down the first 1/4th or so of the blade, but then stays the same width until the very tip.
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