OTΤOMAN PALA RESTORATION

[libra]

Hi everyone.
I want to share with you a restoration that I have made at my workshop.It is an Ottoman pala owned from a friend of mine so some points at the parts that I have made are his own taste.To strat this thread of course I have his permission so I would like to hear your thoughts.
I will show all the steps of the resoration.

Here is the Pala at the start.As you see the scabbard and the qillions are in bad condition.The only parts that I have kept are the woods at the scabbard,
the horn plates at the grip,the side strap at the grip and of course the blade.

[libra]

Here the new scabbard parts that I have made .The friend of mine didnt want any patination at them so they are shine enough.

[libra]

The new quillions and the old one

[libra]

Here i fill the space beetwen the grip plates with a mix of resin,sealing wax,brik dust and plaster.

[libra]

Here I stich the leather with the brass wire.

[libra]

And now the sword with all the parts together.
ENJOY!!!
All the best
Aristeidis

[libra]

The last three

[delor]

Thanks to share !
Could you please give more informations about :
- the sewing of the leather with the brass wire
- the making of the brass wire
- the making of the brass embellishments (repousse ?)

Very nice work !

[Flavio]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

[libra]

Hi delor

The brass embellishments it isn't repousse is massive brass. I have soldered on the brass plate and I engrave it.
The wire I make it first round spring then I open it and I sewing on the leather as you see at the photo!
I hope these to help!
All the best!

[TVV]

Beautiful sword and good work, but I am one of these collectors who feel that much replacement of the original parts was excessive. The original scabbard chape and mouth and crossguard appear to have been in decent shape and I would not have replaced them. Now basically you have a nice old blade in a replica scabbard.

Teodor

[delor]

Thanks libra. You have done a very beautiful work. Nice engraving too !
Did you find the sealing composition by yourself or did you get it from some historical source ?

Regards.

[Sajen]

Very good handicraft but I have the same exception like Teodor, the original brass fittings have been in a worn condition but have been original and this I like personally more than replicas.

Regards,

Detlef

[ariel]

Can you provide more detailed information on the preparation and heating of the sealing mix?

[libra]

Hi to All

Delor the sealing composition I find it my self afterwards from a lot of failures!
We have seen that a lot of swords have something like this,the main
component is resin.
The only report that we have is from Robert Elgood's book THE ARMS OF GREECE.
Ariel
I dont have exact quantities of the materials that I use because I make it through my experience.Several times I start with small quantities of each material and judging the result an then I add parts from the material that I believe that is missing.So it is more due to my experince than a standar recipe.
You heat the recin on the fire and you put first the brik dust then the sealing wax(red)!
When become all homogeneous you put the plaster and you mix them!
As more plaster you put you make the mix more stroger!
Best.
Aristeidis

[Battara]

Great work and I bow in your presence!

I do have a little of TVV's and Sajen's reservations on the total replacement of things. Of course if the client want's it this way, well...............

[ariel]

Thanks for the " recipe". I am also intrigued by the crossguard: did you put a newly-cast one instead of the original? Do you actually cast them yourself? Are they for sale?

[libra]

Hi Ariel.
Yes we have putted a new one at this restoration because the old one was at bad condition.
We have made it from the start.First we have carved it at casting wax and then we made the casting.We can produce crossguards also with patination but at this one our friend wanted to be ''shine'' enough.
We will be glad to sell at any forum member who wants crossguards.
Also we can produce any desing that you desire and any type of crossguards.
All the best.
Aristeidis.

[ariel]

Aristeidis,
You have a PM.
Also, how do you heat the mix? In boiling water or straight on fire? Doesn't it catch fire?

[libra]

Hi Ariel.
I heat the mix at a metal bowl on fire.But be careful because it catch fire if you boil it.It must be melted not boiled.
All the best.
Aristeidis

[delor]

Hi Aristeidis,

are you using the same king of resin as for art painting (gutte, dammar, copal...) ?
The gutte resin (Cambodgian "garcina morella") color reminds me the color of some ancient oriental sword sealings, but copal resin, which is from India would be more geographically accurate. What do you think ?

[libra]

Hi Delor
I don't now exactly what type of resin is.
Here we buy it from the shop as simple resin with no special name
But i beleive it is copal!!
I hope those two photos help you more!!

All the best
Aristeidis

[delor]

Thank you Aristeidis !
This resin is surprisingly red. It looks like myrrh, but is probably not (unless you by it from a monastery !). Might be from some local tree. Thanks anyway.

Kind regards,
Bernard.