Black stain spreading on keris during vinegar cleaning

Marcokeris · 10th March 2020, 11:47 AM

Apolaki to clean the blade you can also use acid citric . You can put the blade inside 1 lt water with three little spoons of acid citric (white dust). Little by little the rust goes away. I used this way in the past with good exit.

A. G. Maisey · 10th March 2020, 01:38 PM

Apolaki, I believe that the black you can see is the steel core that has been hardened. The small specks in the body of the blade could be where the outside layers have worn, or, as Jean has suggested, maybe some steel is in the mix of the outside layers, but the big black areas at the point & edges are steel core.

As to cleaning with vinegar I am not nearly as scientific as either Jean or Marco. I buy ordinary white household vinegar, I have not the slightest idea of its acidity, I never dilute it. I simply wash the blade with detergent to get rid of any grease, and soak it in the vinegar. I inspect it once or twice a day and brush it as well as pick off the rust with a sharp tool, then I put it back into the vinegar. It might take me a week or more before I'm satisfied that it is clean.

Jean has my utmost admiration if he can get a truly dirty blade clean in 24 hours with only 2 brushings. Incredible! You're a better man I am Jean.

Marcokeris · 10th March 2020, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Apolaki, I believe that the black you can see is the steel core that has been hardened. The small specks in the body of the blade could be where the outside layers have worn, or, as Jean has suggested, maybe some steel is in the mix of the outside layers, but the big black areas at the point & edges are steel core.

As to cleaning with vinegar I am not nearly as scientific as either Jean or Marco. I buy ordinary white household vinegar, I have not the slightest idea of its acidity, I never dilute it. I simply wash the blade with detergent to get rid of any grease, and soak it in the vinegar. I inspect it once or twice a day and brush it as well as pick off the rust with a sharp tool, then I put it back into the vinegar. It might take me a week or more before I'm satisfied that it is clean.

Jean has my utmost admiration if he can get a truly dirty blade clean in 24 hours with only 2 brushings. Incredible! You're a better man I am Jean.

my way to clean blades (with rust difficult to remove with other easier systems) is only empirical and rather fast.... sorry for my bad english

A. G. Maisey · 10th March 2020, 02:27 PM

Nitric acid is faster Marco.

But jokes aside, citric acid works well, I've used that too, and a lot of people in Indonesia currently use citric. In fact anything acidic will clean a blade, its just that I prefer vinegar because it is cheap, easy, consistent.

But if I could still get decent pineapple juice, I'd still be using that.

apolaki · 17th March 2020, 02:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcokeris

Apolaki to clean the blade you can also use acid citric . You can put the blade inside 1 lt water with three little spoons of acid citric (white dust). Little by little the rust goes away. I used this way in the past with good exit.

Hi Marco,

I don't access to acid citric. Where can you get that?

Also, can I use concentrated lemon juice and water? If so, what is the recommended ratio?

Marcokeris · 17th March 2020, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by apolaki

Hi Marco,

I don't access to acid citric. Where can you get that?

Also, can I use concentrated lemon juice and water? If so, what is the recommended ratio?

Hi Apolaki
I have always easily found citric acid in the pharmacy (here in Italy). Citric acid resembles as white sugar and I used this acid only with blades where the rust was very difficult to take away as old rust inside the deep of the blade's structures. When you will have the citric acid you must put some spoons of this dust into water and you must put all the blade inside this water for one day or more or less (it depends how many acid you put in the water) and , for exemple, every hour, you have to see the the blades to control the process.
Western lemon juice, in my experience, works well together bicarbonate-soda if I want to take away old warangan from the blade ...and to clean the blade before to put a new warangan

Interested Party · 17th March 2020, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcokeris

Hi Apolaki
Western lemon juice, in my experience, works well together bicarbonate-soda if I want to take away old warangan from the blade ...and to clean the blade before to put a new warangan

Marco what ratio of lemon juice to bicarbonate soda are you using? Are you making a paste and scrubbing with a tooth brush?

Marcokeris · 17th March 2020, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Interested Party

Marco what ratio of lemon juice to bicarbonate soda are you using? Are you making a paste and scrubbing with a tooth brush?

yes... I used exactly this way

apolaki · 18th March 2020, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcokeris

yes... I used exactly this way

Great! What is the ratio you use?

jagabuwana · 18th March 2020, 01:01 AM

A word to the wise:

A great regret of mine is opting to use citric acid as opposed to regular white cooking vinegar, on one of my old blades.

It was the first time for me cleaning any blade.

Firstly I put too much citric acid in and it flaked some of the steel off the blade.
It was already in quite a fragile state due to its purported age, and the concentration of citric acid was far too harsh.

For this reason I will always opt to use cooking vinegar and father time.

18th March 2020, 01:01 AM	#10
jagabuwana Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 291	A word to the wise: A great regret of mine is opting to use citric acid as opposed to regular white cooking vinegar, on one of my old blades. It was the first time for me cleaning any blade. Firstly I put too much citric acid in and it flaked some of the steel off the blade. It was already in quite a fragile state due to its purported age, and the concentration of citric acid was far too harsh. For this reason I will always opt to use cooking vinegar and father time. Last edited by jagabuwana; 18th March 2020 at 02:00 AM.

10th March 2020, 11:47 AM	#1
Marcokeris Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Italy Posts: 928	Apolaki to clean the blade you can also use acid citric . You can put the blade inside 1 lt water with three little spoons of acid citric (white dust). Little by little the rust goes away. I used this way in the past with good exit.

10th March 2020, 01:38 PM	#2
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,047	Apolaki, I believe that the black you can see is the steel core that has been hardened. The small specks in the body of the blade could be where the outside layers have worn, or, as Jean has suggested, maybe some steel is in the mix of the outside layers, but the big black areas at the point & edges are steel core. As to cleaning with vinegar I am not nearly as scientific as either Jean or Marco. I buy ordinary white household vinegar, I have not the slightest idea of its acidity, I never dilute it. I simply wash the blade with detergent to get rid of any grease, and soak it in the vinegar. I inspect it once or twice a day and brush it as well as pick off the rust with a sharp tool, then I put it back into the vinegar. It might take me a week or more before I'm satisfied that it is clean. Jean has my utmost admiration if he can get a truly dirty blade clean in 24 hours with only 2 brushings. Incredible! You're a better man I am Jean.

10th March 2020, 02:27 PM	#4
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,047	Nitric acid is faster Marco. But jokes aside, citric acid works well, I've used that too, and a lot of people in Indonesia currently use citric. In fact anything acidic will clean a blade, its just that I prefer vinegar because it is cheap, easy, consistent. But if I could still get decent pineapple juice, I'd still be using that.