First Keris for me

[kai]

Hello Brad,

I followed the listed directions, scrubbing it with hot soapy water, then soaking it 24 hours immersed in vinegar. The blade is clean but has the same finish as before. Is there an upper limit of time for soaking in vinegar? The vinegar had little discoloration afterwards.

Make sure that the metal surface doesn't corrode too much (not very sensitive issue with keris Jawa). Given that, you sure can repeat soap followed by vinegar; a blade can take a while to take an etch, especially if the blade has been polished with a machine.

You'll probably need to work on the tang to loosen up the rust (try a wooden stick or steel wool). The yellowish discoloration is most likely from the rust of the tang.

The blade construction is not near as complex as others I have seen here.

Yes, it's an "unplanned" pamor. Can also look neat though.

Regards,
Kai