Warangka repair? Please help!

[ThePepperSkull]

I had recieved a new Kris the other day and foolishly I had placed the warangka at the edge of a table. Being that the scabbard mouth area (Gambar/Sampir, which do we prefer on these forums? I'm very new at Keris as well as terms for parts) is made of Buffalo horn, it is much heavier than the bottom part of the warangka (Gandar/Batang area). And as such it fell, Gambar/Sampir first onto the ground.

It separated and broke a little bit, separating the Gambar/Sampir from the Gandar/Batang. It is a relatively clean break, however, and when I place the two separate pieces together there is no wiggle or play because they still fit together very well.

My question to you guys is: how should I go about fixing this? Would it be fine just to epoxy the gambar/sampir to the gandar/batang? Perhaps a wood glue would suffice? Hopefully I can salvage the sheath from this stupid, stupid lapse in judgement.

[David]

Originally Posted by ThePepperSkull

I had recieved a new Kris the other day and foolishly I had placed the warangka at the edge of a table. Being that the scabbard mouth area (Gambar/Sampir, which do we prefer on these forums? I'm very new at Keris as well as terms for parts) is made of Buffalo horn, it is much heavier than the bottom part of the warangka (Gandar/Batang area). And as such it fell, Gambar/Sampir first onto the ground.

It separated and broke a little bit, separating the Gambar/Sampir from the Gandar/Batang. It is a relatively clean break, however, and when I place the two separate pieces together there is no wiggle or play because they still fit together very well.

My question to you guys is: how should I go about fixing this? Would it be fine just to epoxy the gambar/sampir to the gandar/batang? Perhaps a wood glue would suffice? Hopefully I can salvage the sheath from this stupid, stupid lapse in judgement.

Don't feel too bad Pepper, we all make the same stupid bad move sooner or later. Are you talking about a break on the wood or the horn. Wood glue would work fine on wood, of course, but i am not sure it is the best thing for horn.
BTW, the names of these parts isn't the province of this forum as much as it is the area from which the sheath originates.

[A. G. Maisey]

In my experience wood glues, especially the modern ones, have a tendency to generate rust if they come into contact with ferric material. To reglue this joint is simple, but if any glue gets inside the scabbard and later contacts the blade, you could have a rust problem.

Five minute epoxy is the most satisfactory adhesive.

Clean the joint thoroughly, roughen the surfaces, make a wedge that you can insert through the mouth of the wrongko to keep the surfaces to be glued, together. Smear the blade lightly with a release compound---car polish is good--- spread a very small amount of glue on the surfaces, bring the parts together, insert the blade to align the parts, hold the parts in place with your left hand while you carefully remove the blade with your right hand, insert the wedge without moving the alignment of the parts, clean the outside of the joint with water if the joint will be seen, if you are using a pendok, wait until its dry then cut it off. Clean the inside of the joint with a chisel. Wait for any epoxy on the blade to dry, then pick it off with a sharp piece of wood, wash the car polish off with mineral turps, and then drench the blade with WD40.

[ThePepperSkull]

David, some of the wood has broken off to where it was fed into and glued onto the horn scabbard mouth. There is still some wood left to feed into the horn scabbard mouth, so A.G.'s suggestion of epoxy will work perfectly I think. The horn material is fine thank goodness.

A.G., sounds great, I will do this ASAP! (And for the record, the joint will be covered by a pendok, so that makes this all the more easy.) I appreciate your input and thank you both very much!