Kaskara Stuck In Scabbard
 

Hi All,

I need some technical advise. I gave a kaskara to a friend some years ago. The blade is now stuck in the scabbard. It will not budge in spite of heavy tuggs. Should I apply a hairdryer heat to the scabbard or apply leather conditioner or another method to loosen it? The grip has silver and a bit of reptile hide, and I suspect that the blade may be significant. Need to get it back in shape.

Thanks for your help.
Edster

IT IS LIKELY THE BLADE HAS RUSTED IN THE SCABBARD, THIS IS COMMON AND WHY IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO LEAVE BLADES OUT OF LEATHER SCABBARDS WHEN IN STORAGE. IF THE SCABBARD IS NOT TOO OLD AND FRAGILE OR COVERED WITH SILVER YOU COULD TRY TAPPING UP AND DOWN THE BLADE ON BOTH SIDES WITH A WOODEN OR RUBBER HAMMER OR MAYBE EVEN A REGULAR HAMMER. THIS MAY BREAK UP THE RUST WHERE IT IS ATTACHED TO THE SCABBARD AND BLADE AND LOOSEN IT ENOUGH TO GET IT OUT. GOOD LUCK

That, or a syringe with oil, inserted carefully at regular intervals along the scabbard.

If it comes down to it, I would personally sacrifice the scabbard for the sake of the blade.

Vandoo, Iain,

Thanks for the approaches. I'll pass them on for application. I should have brought the sword home with me to provide proper therapy.

Ed

Leather Therapy; google it .
With long term heavy applications you might just save both scabbard and blade . :)

Ed - I sympathise with you. I have recently had a couple or three of kaskara arrive in this state.

Might I suggest that oil is your last resort (although I had to go there). The reason is that it will totally transform the colour of the scabbard. If it is rust then gentle tapping and working of the scabbard may loosen this. You have to be patient because any movement will start very small. Depending how old your scabbard is then the inside may be anything from wood to cardboard and this will affect how easy the process is, the softer the inner lining the more difficult it will be to brake it loose. Be careful of tugging down on the top part of the scabbard because if it moves and the sword is stuck in the bottom half does the scabbard will buckle in the middle.

If it does not work dry, then oiling with a syringe as Iain suggested is the next step, but the process then is the same.

If it's not rust then possibly someone has decided to protect the sword by coating it with grease before putting it in the scabbard - in this case the grease dries into the scabbard and forms a very effective glue as the scabbard dries. I have had two of these and both times I needed to soak the scabbard in oil to release the grease. Not all oil is good for this, use acid-free oil. I'm not sure about WD40 and leather. Its acid free but I don't trust it on leather.

Best of luck!

Thanks for the additional suggestions. Has anyone used the German military development, Ballistol, for the "oil" part? I've used it on leather as a conditioner and preservative as well as doing yeoman service as a metal lubricant. It just may be the answer to the proverbial maiden's prayer.

http://www.ballistol.com/

Sounds like it might be exactly what we are looking for - all purpose lubricant and protection for the antique gun and sword collector - never used it though. Thanks for the tip :)

I decided to follow up on this and have ordered some. It's supposedly a good rust remover as well. I'll report back on how it works. :)

Tapping on the scabbard with a mallet released the "frozen" blade. It was pretty rusty but now working on it with oil. Will coat blade with Renaissance Wax before its reinserted.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Ed

Glad to hear you had success. Personally I store all my blades outside the scabbards for just this reason.

Just got my order of Ballistol in yesterday and will try it out on a few things today.