Below is something I prepared years ago for people who asked me questions similar to your question.
I used to recommend pineapple juice as the cleaning agent, I no longer do because I can no longer buy pure, natural pineapple juice where I live. I could make my own, but that would cost too much, and ordinary household white vinegar is just as effective.
I actually completed the vinegar cleaning of three pamor pedang blades yesterday, I brought these back from Bali 9 or 10 days ago, and they were in heavily rusted condition, it took 4 days of exactly what is in the below cleaning instructions to bring these blades to a condition where they can be stained.
When your keris is clean it will need to be stained.
Staining a keris blade correctly carries an element of risk & I am not prepared to put instructions for this on a public notice board. If you wish to understand the staining process, PM me.
CLEANING A KERIS BLADE
Actually any mildly acidic agent will do the job. In Jawa the traditional agent is coconut water, but in recent years people have used other acids such as citric, and very dilute sulphuric.
Vinegar works well too.
Remove the hilt & mendak before beginning the process.
Scrub the blade with detergent and a hard toothbrush under warm running water, to get rid of any surface dirt and oil. Lay the blade in a trough and cover with the cleaning agent.
A plastic wall paper hanging trough is good for this. Remove the blade each day and scrub it under running water with a hard tooth brush, to remove the rust that the cleaning agent has freed up.
I usually do this twice a day-morning and evening.
After a few days you will find that most of the rust has washed off, but there will probably be still a few small areas that have little bits of hard rust stuck to them. Carefully chip these pieces of rust off with a sharp tool. A small sharp pocket knife blade, or a saddler's needle works well.
Most blades come clean in under a week, but it could take longer.
My experience with household vinegar is that longer periods in the soak do the blade no harm at all.
When all the rust is off, wash the blade thoroughly, and if you do not intend to stain it, kill residual acid with bi-carbonate of soda. Paint on a slurry, leave for a few minutes, thoroughly rinse off. Pat the blade dry, and then leave in hot sunlight, or use a hairdryer or heat gun to ensure it is totally dry.
This completes the cleaning process.
Storage in a plastic sleeve & use of oil is recommended.
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