Is Evapo Rust safe for cleaning keris?

Jean · 19th September 2012, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick

Pineapple juice (unsweetened) .

Also .

Patience .

Patience is a mother virtue but the results are not always guaranteed...

I would like to report my personal experience as follows:
I recently purchased an old kris panjang with a partly rusty and corroded blade (see top pictures). The rust was unevenly ditributed along the blade and in the form of a hard black crust.
I decided to test the pineapple juice method for cleaning it (100% unsweetened juice from Costa-Rica). As the blade is 60 cm long I used a vertical container (PVC pipe with a bottom plug).
During the first 2 days, the cleaning results were encouraging and about 50% of the rust was removed after regular scrubbing with a kitchen iron pad impregnated with a cleaning paste. However from the 3rd day, the progress became insignificant and absolutely nil after about 5 days so I decided to stop the procedure and replace the pineapple juice by undiluted white vinegar (8% vol). After few hours the results were already visible and after about 24 hours and few scrubbing procedures virtually all the remaining rust spots had disappeared and the overall cleaning result is satisfactory (see bottom pictures).
As a conclusion, vinegar appeared much more efficient than pineapple juice for cleaning this particular blade and I tentatively explain it as follows:
1. The pineapple juice did not ferment at all during the whole period may be because the contact with air in the vertical container was minimal, so the juice was not enough acidic for removing the rust. Of course the juice pulp settled at the bottom of the container but there was no major difference of cleaning efficiency along the blade.
2. Contrary to most kris blades, this particular one has no pamor and is made from solid steel so it may be more difficult to clean it than blades made from mixed metals.

Next time I will try citric acid (diluted at 10% in water) which is a recognized rust removing agent and which gave very good results on another Sumatra blade without pamor.
Regards

A. G. Maisey · 19th September 2012, 11:14 PM

Sulphuric acid is even more effective if speed is the criterion. Sulphuric acid will clean a blade in minutes. Aqua regia is even faster.

I used to use pure Queensland Pineapple juice.

On a heavily rusted blade rust removal could take two weeks, but most of the rust was usually removed in the first couple of days. After that each time it was removed from the juice it was necessary to work over the blade with steel picks of various sizes from a bearing scraper to a saddler's needle and pick off the hard rust before putting it back into the juice.

Then the Australia company "Golden Circle" was bought by an American firm.

They stopped selling pure Queensland pineapple juice and started to import pineapple juice concentrate from South America. The stuff tastes like sh***, you'd need to be dying of thirst to drink it, and even then you'd probably think twice before letting it pass your lips. As for its use as a keris cleaner, well, it works for maybe two days, then it goes dead.

I no longer use pineapple juice to clean blades, for the simple reason that I can no longer buy it. Even though Australia produces so many pineapples they sometimes get plowed back into the ground we have a profit driven international company importing pure concentrate of horse pi** from South America and trying to sell it to us as Pineapple juice. Be a cold day in hell before I buy another can of this garbage. You can't drink it, and its useless for cleaning purposes.

Another international company did a similar thing with Arnotts Biscuits, who when they were a locally owned company used to produce what were arguable the world's finest mass produced biscuits. It took these business geniuses maybe 20 years, but they have finally got that biscuit company to the position where its share of super market shelf space has shrunk to the point where you almost can't see the brand any more. The quality of Arnotts Biscuits dropped to the point where nobody except those without taste buds buy them.

Anyway, we don't use chocolate biscuits to de-rust keris, so it probably doesn't matter much.

These days I use ordinary household vinegar for de-rusting, and next time I have some blades to do I intend to try citric acid.

satsujinken · 20th September 2012, 03:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Sulphuric acid is even more effective if speed is the criterion. Sulphuric acid will clean a blade in minutes. Aqua regia is even faster.

yeah, faster ... come back after one hour, and your blade will be completely dissolved in the solution ...

I mean really dissolved without a trace but perhaps a thick yellowish smoke ... as that thing (aqua regia - or king of water) can literally eat away ceramic blocks, dissolve gold and platinum and must be handled with extreme care ...

I myself using lime (jeruk nipis) and coconut water, and some soft steel wire brush

Gustav · 20th September 2012, 06:58 PM

Regarding acid... this is one of my favorite threads:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=holy+smoke.

It really begins with post #29, and from post #36 on for some posts it becomes otherworldly good.

Enjoy!

satsujinken · 21st September 2012, 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gustav

Regarding acid... this is one of my favorite threads:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=holy+smoke.

It really begins with post #29, and from post #36 on for some posts it becomes otherworldly good.

Enjoy!

how scary ( I meant barbaric), to see someone destroyed a keris like that ...

I've seen junk cleaned and turned to be treasure, but this one ... just broke my heart to see it

satsujinken · 2nd October 2012, 11:43 AM

hi neo ...
where in Indonesia can you buy evapo rust ?
I'd like to give it a shot - for my motorcycle spare parts, not keris :P

David · 2nd October 2012, 04:57 PM

You can buy it on line Donny, but i don't know about the shipping costs...

19th September 2012, 11:14 PM	#2
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	Sulphuric acid is even more effective if speed is the criterion. Sulphuric acid will clean a blade in minutes. Aqua regia is even faster. I used to use pure Queensland Pineapple juice. On a heavily rusted blade rust removal could take two weeks, but most of the rust was usually removed in the first couple of days. After that each time it was removed from the juice it was necessary to work over the blade with steel picks of various sizes from a bearing scraper to a saddler's needle and pick off the hard rust before putting it back into the juice. Then the Australia company "Golden Circle" was bought by an American firm. They stopped selling pure Queensland pineapple juice and started to import pineapple juice concentrate from South America. The stuff tastes like sh*, you'd need to be dying of thirst to drink it, and even then you'd probably think twice before letting it pass your lips. As for its use as a keris cleaner, well, it works for maybe two days, then it goes dead. I no longer use pineapple juice to clean blades, for the simple reason that I can no longer buy it. Even though Australia produces so many pineapples they sometimes get plowed back into the ground we have a profit driven international company importing pure concentrate of horse pi from South America and trying to sell it to us as Pineapple juice. Be a cold day in hell before I buy another can of this garbage. You can't drink it, and its useless for cleaning purposes. Another international company did a similar thing with Arnotts Biscuits, who when they were a locally owned company used to produce what were arguable the world's finest mass produced biscuits. It took these business geniuses maybe 20 years, but they have finally got that biscuit company to the position where its share of super market shelf space has shrunk to the point where you almost can't see the brand any more. The quality of Arnotts Biscuits dropped to the point where nobody except those without taste buds buy them. Anyway, we don't use chocolate biscuits to de-rust keris, so it probably doesn't matter much. These days I use ordinary household vinegar for de-rusting, and next time I have some blades to do I intend to try citric acid.

20th September 2012, 06:58 PM	#4
Gustav Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 1,280	Regarding acid... this is one of my favorite threads: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=holy+smoke. It really begins with post #29, and from post #36 on for some posts it becomes otherworldly good. Enjoy!

2nd October 2012, 11:43 AM	#6
satsujinken Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Surabaya - Indonesia Posts: 199	hi neo ... where in Indonesia can you buy evapo rust ? I'd like to give it a shot - for my motorcycle spare parts, not keris :P

2nd October 2012, 04:57 PM	#7
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,218	You can buy it on line Donny, but i don't know about the shipping costs...