Before & After

[Stan S.]

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

Salaams Stan ~ Great job on the axe. Can you give a rough outline on how you cleaned it up... ie scrubbed with soapy water...dropped in coke for 3 days .... what cleaning solution how long for.... and which wax you find best for preservation...etc .. Regards Ibrahiim

You guys are not going to like this... I use somewhat an unorthodox means for cleaning all of my pieces. The method is rediculously simple, yet it is generally frawned upon by the collectors as being damaging to the artifacts intended to be cleaned. In my experience however, it had proven to demonstrate positive although not consistently succesful results without any negative side effects.

Basically, I start with scrubbing the item with abrassive steel wool of the gauge ranging from #00 to #2. I will use heavier grade on plain steel and finer grade on anything with coftgari, bone or wooden grips, etc. I have to say that I've developed a good eye for this sort of thing and will decide on scrubbing dry or with addition of WD-40 depending on the type of rust, it's "depth", and the overall condition of the weapon I am dealing with. In doing so I avoid letting any chemicals come in contact with anything other than metal or stone. Once the residual rust is off, I switch to scrubbing with NevrDull (this stuff is great!). NevrDull both cleans and polishes the metal. It has a tendency to leave a whitish reidue on some types of steel, and so in the end I wipe my item down with a paper towel soaked in mineral oil. I don't use wax, but will inspect and oil each piece in my collection once or twice a year if needed. That's all there is to it. Working on this axe for example took a total of 2 hours and some muscle. It could be done quicker if I didn't take any smoke breaks in between

When it comes to restoration, I enjoy to learn new tricks and to experiment. For example, back in September I attempted to clean 2 old tulwars using lemon juice and vinegar. Both swords were in a near relic condition and were just a step above munion grade in quality, so I wasn't too concerned with damaging them. Unfortunately this experiment did not go too well. Perhaps I will share the "before and after" once I upload the pictures.