First of all... thankyou for your words of encouragement
Here are some more pics of the blade after hours of more cleaning.....Now I have a problem ....it certainly looks as if it is wootz
Now the headache is.... do I clean further (and if so to what degree) and etch
I believe this sword to have some considerable age....under the active rust is a hard, very dark layer of ...what I think is...stabilized rust which is/was relatively thick. The other nice thing ..is the feeling that the sword actually 'appreciates' the amount of cleaning attention it is getting and to a degree the whole process has been slighty 'spiritual'.....I really get a sense that this Khanda has many stories to tell. ( I know a few of you are probably thinking 'this guy needs a straight jacket and medication') ...but this sword has 'something'
There also seems to be more Koftgari than I first thought...but is still patchy, mainly the remains of an edging border around the contours of the hilt. Soaking with oil has helped to loosen some of the rust...but the layer of the harder, stabilized rust is not ...and this is what is covering the remains of some of the Koftgari.
Any suggestions, comments etc gratefully received, thankyou