sword maintenance

Joined
Feb 26, 2007
Messages
3
hi guys im new here. and im wondering if you guys can help me. i just bought a sword from the Philippines, and want to know from your experience how to properly care for a blade, like treatment and such. the handle is kamagong, and it cracked a little bit because of the weather, i think.

many thanks
 
Welcome to Bladeforums! I'm going to move this thread to The Toolshed, but you might also want to have a look at The Sword Forum.

moving-van.jpg
 
I used to rub linseed oil into gunstocks, grips, have no idea if it made a difference. I just did a search on wood preservation, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_preservation, maybe tung oil will do the trick. You can find tung oil at Wally Mart. You can also find linseed in the paint section.

I'd personally recommend just sticking with boiled linseed oil. A little of it goes a long way, and the oil actually hardens the wood (expands, fills in the pores of the wood then hardens. Two or three coats given to it over the course of 2 hours should do the trick.

I say Boiled Linseed Oil because unlike regular raw linseed oil, boiled doesn't take months to dry.
 
Basically your sword is a long carbon steel thing, with wood grips, or wood covered in leather. The blade will rust and the leather will wear. Vintage swords, and probably yours, are made from Carbon steel. You did not post a picture, don’t know about your scabbard, but I will bet it is either leather, or wood covered in leather. Your sword blade will rust in the scabbard. Either store the blade out of the scabbard, oiled, or greased, or check frequently in the scabbard. While it seems that you can just oil the thing and put it in a scabbard, you will find that where the blade touches the scabbard, it will rust.

For long term storage I am have wiped my blades clean, oiled them, and then rubbed RIG grease http://www.silencio.com/htfiles/chemicals.html on the surface, and wrapped them in wax paper, and taped over the wax paper. Obviously the blade is stored outside the scabbard and is of no tactical use in this configuration. I will give a plug for RIG, have been using it for decades now, the stuff is the best rust inhibiting grease I have used.

For non collectable swords, that I want to play with on occasion, I have sprayed the blades with clear spray paint. At least I can see the blade and the paint is a rust barrier. And you can store the thing in a scabbard, assuming it will fit. You still have to check as the blade will still rust under the clear paint. Those blasted Oxygen molecules are tenacious!!

I found kamagong on wikepedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamagong I am not a wood expert. Wood is dead tree, and being dead it will be effected by humidity, bugs, heat, etc. I used to rub linseed oil into gunstocks, grips, have no idea if it made a difference. I just did a search on wood preservation, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_preservation, maybe tung oil will do the trick. You can find tung oil at Wally Mart. You can also find linseed in the paint section.

If your wood grips have cracked, you have a problem. I have used expensive clear two part epoxies found at Marine stores to repair wood. Elmers is just not strong enough. You can also find color packs to mix with the epoxy at the Marine stores. I have used Flex Poxy http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|10918|12626|311449&id=157574 with excellent results.
This stuff has the consistency of thick butter when mixed. This may be too thick, so look around at the other epoxies used by boaters. As you can see, the good stuff ain't cheap. :eek: Clear may be a misnomer, lets say these epoxies are translucent.

Opinion on leather preservation is cyclic. For a couple of decades people advocated using oils or creams, then next couple of decades the advice was to use nothing because molds like oils. If the color has gone from the leather you can rub boot cream http://www.the-fort.com/item.asp?sku=197133 (and there are an infinity of boot cream colors) into the leather to restore color to the grips, but generally it is better to leave leather alone.


thanks i'll post a picture
 
how do i post a pic?
anyways the sword is called ginunting, the scabbard is made of half bahi and something i dont know of, its wood.
 
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