Another jambiya in need of some TLC. WARNING: painful pictures inside

FenrisWolf · 4th February 2007, 02:36 PM

I bought this dagger several years ago and it's languished in a drawer since then. The hilt was broken when I unwrapped it, but I dropped it while doing so, so there was a 50-50 chance I did it. As such I didn't feel right about returning it to the seller.

I've looked at it a few times with an eye to restoring it, but as you can see I have my work cut out for me. Not only is there the new break to pin and glue, but a much older break involving the joining of the blade and the hilt was *very* sloppily done. And then to top it off, there's the huge chip out of the blade where it obviously ran into something much harder than it was. Then there's the overall rust and mild surface pitting to be dealt with, not to mention the RATTLESNAKE SKIN some yahoo up in Alaska (the seller lived in Sitka) used on the sheath in place of velvet!

So, why now? Well, I can't be sure, but I think I have another wootx blade hiding under all the neglect. It's also huge, 14 1/2" for the blade alone.

So, does anyone have recommendations, suggestions, links to discussions of similar projects? I think I can use a dremel to free the blade from the hiltand then make sure it's reset properly, but I need to know what to use for cement. Epoxy is one idea I had, but it would show up against the ivory. I can live with that for the center break as it'll match the glue that was used to repair the earlier break, but something else was used to attach the blade. Please, any hints at all would be helpful.

Also, how much fussing should I do with the chip? An earlier owner already ground it own some, so there's no pristine condition to worry about.

4th February 2007, 02:36 PM	#1
FenrisWolf Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 181	Another jambiya in need of some TLC. WARNING: painful pictures inside I bought this dagger several years ago and it's languished in a drawer since then. The hilt was broken when I unwrapped it, but I dropped it while doing so, so there was a 50-50 chance I did it. As such I didn't feel right about returning it to the seller. I've looked at it a few times with an eye to restoring it, but as you can see I have my work cut out for me. Not only is there the new break to pin and glue, but a much older break involving the joining of the blade and the hilt was very sloppily done. And then to top it off, there's the huge chip out of the blade where it obviously ran into something much harder than it was. Then there's the overall rust and mild surface pitting to be dealt with, not to mention the RATTLESNAKE SKIN some yahoo up in Alaska (the seller lived in Sitka) used on the sheath in place of velvet! So, why now? Well, I can't be sure, but I think I have another wootx blade hiding under all the neglect. It's also huge, 14 1/2" for the blade alone. So, does anyone have recommendations, suggestions, links to discussions of similar projects? I think I can use a dremel to free the blade from the hiltand then make sure it's reset properly, but I need to know what to use for cement. Epoxy is one idea I had, but it would show up against the ivory. I can live with that for the center break as it'll match the glue that was used to repair the earlier break, but something else was used to attach the blade. Please, any hints at all would be helpful. Also, how much fussing should I do with the chip? An earlier owner already ground it own some, so there's no pristine condition to worry about.