Cleaning bone on existing handle

t1mpani

t1mpani

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I'm trying to fix up a "blem" from Himalayan Imports without completely replacing the bone handle, and have been doing a good bit of sanding and filing on it to make the tang flush with the handle scales and the scales themselves a little more even/symmetrical that they were before. I'm going to end up having to do an epoxy fill to stabilize parts of bone scales, and have figured out a mixture with my various epoxy dyes so that it should hopefully not be TOO noticeable, but need to figure out a way to clean all the bone/steel/belt dust that was worked its way into the more porous sections.

I have searched through on cleaning bone and have found lots of good advice but it has primarily regarded preparing bone that isn't already on a tang. This is a small sword and so it'd be difficult to put the scales in water to simmer. I have tried cleanup just with water and a toothbrush but I'm either not reaching down into the holes very well or else I need something with a little more kick.

Is it safe to use an acetone or mineral spirits on bone? Would I be better off sticking with water and hooking up my pressure washer? My only fear on this last part is that since the sections in question aren't super strong yet, super high pressure water might end up just crushing it. Anyway, figured I'd gather a few opinions from the non-amateurs. :)
 
Warren good to see ya again ..
i think a good trick to get some of the crud out of the holes might be something like ren wax ,might be able to do it with candle wax . melt the wax directly over the spot with the crud in it and see if you can get the crud to lift out with the wax .if not try modeling clay /playdough that you can push into the holes and try to lift the crud out . if that doesn't work there is alway's the needle and air compressor to loosen it and blow it out .

good luck on this ..
 
Hey Matt! Good to see you too--just checked in at your site and it looks like you've been busy. :)

That sounds like an interesting idea--wonder if I could use a hair dryer to melt the wax out once it was in there? It might ruin the wax's adhesion to the grit/grime but at least if it does it's not like I'm out anything more than a little wax and then I can try again. At least there's no concern about it hurting the bone. When I get home, I'll give it a shot.

Thank you, sir! :thumbup:
 
Hi Warren,
Something that works for me to get junk out of the pores of osage orange, is to coat it with oil, and rub it vigorously. The oil dissolves the dirt, and helps lift it out. Might have to do it several times.
 
Howdy Phillip,

Sounds promising aswell...I have some mineral oil that should be innocuous enough.

Well cool--a couple things to try!

My thanks to you too, sir :)


Edit to add: I'm not familiar with Blutak---something available at stores or an order item?

Warren
 
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