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Originally Posted by mariusgmioc
No, wire wool is not spongy. Spongy means there are many micro cavities inside. When you carefully put it on water, then some air might get trapped in these micro-cavities and make it float. And considering that these cavities are of microscopic dimmensions, it might even be difficult for the water to get in.
Normally kerises are made of diferent alloys of iron, some more, some less resistant to acid attack. Yet, it wouldn't be the different alloys that may cause this phenomenon, but the intrinsic structure of iron. Iron is formed by a matrix of microcristals of Ferrite and Cementite. Ferrite is a high iron phase, while Cementite being a low iron border material between metal and ceramic. What I suspect it happened with this Keris is that the Ferrite was dissolved by the acid and left the cementite matrix intact.... more or less.
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Dirty Iron is what we call Iron with lots of non metallic components. The forging process drives them out forming sparks as you strike the Iron. The purer the Iron becomes the less sparks formed. No keris could be spongy after being through the forging process. Keris blades are made from different types of besi (traditionally 16) they are all Iron just coming from different sources. I have seen a heavily pitted blade but never seen a spongy blade.