Etching Blades

[donutsrule]

Here are some before and after pics of my kris and what a few days of MAAS and some elbow grease do. It's not a true before and after becase it's the other side, but the sides were in similar condition. Actually the "after" side looked worse before I started on it.

This is the "before" side:

[donutsrule]

And here is the "after" side. You can see not only is there the brazing that left the scorch marks, but there was another, smaller, "repair" done above that with copper rather than brass.

[Spunjer]

what happened to that kris? did you brazed it yourself???

[donutsrule]

Originally Posted by Spunjer

what happened to that kris? did you brazed it yourself???

Absolutely not. It was [afaik] a WWII bring-back I purchased off Ebay like that. I don't know when it was ... "repaired."


Edit: here's another pic that shows the pretty nasty condition it was/is in when I got it.

[Federico]

There is the possibility that the braze job was done by locals. It is not unheard of, for kris and other Moro swords to be damaged and then repaired with a metal with a lower melt point, such as brass or copper. If it were an American braze job, I would expect to see a more common welding rod for steel used, rather than brass.

Anyways, one of the after effects that is visible of the before and after of using Maas is the loss of pattern. It is visible in the before pic, but by the after it becomes faint. Realistically, this happens whenever one sands a blade, but if one is not planning on re-etching it can be a loss that will never return. However, one note about etching, it can remove rust. I tend to use an initial lemon juice etch to remove any cached on rust, and get a good look at what Im dealing with before taking further action. So if you plan on etching, I would go ahead do one cleaning etch, before sanding away. You may be surprised how well it turns out after just one etch.

[donutsrule]

I think I'm going to try the 0000 steel wool and WD-40, and maybe some 2000 grit sandpaper on the "before" side to see how it does compared to the MAAS side.

Then we'll see how a vinegar or lemon juice etch looks on this thing.

Then it's on to handle restoration. Anyone know of a good place to get jute or hemp string to re-wrap over the wood handle and hold down the bacabaca holder?


Edit: Federico posted the same time I did. Thanks! I guess we'll try the lemon juice etch first and then go from there.

Edit edit: The little copper fix is really a neat job. The brass one is decided less so. The hamfisted grinding done to the blade after the brazing managed to not only take down the brass part, but also hit the bare blade in more than one spot. You can see one hit as the bright patch in the scorched part of the "before" pic. I'll take some better pics of the brazing area tonight. I'd appreciate your opinion on whether this was a contemporary repair or a later US attempt.

[Federico]

Not sure where youre located, but many hardware stores still carry jute twine. The twine I use, I get at Menards. There are other specialized online stores that carry more varieties, etc... But I always figure its nice to hit the local stores first for that instant gratification.

[moose]

For hemp you could try a store that sells beading supplies.

It is quite popular with the younger kids for macrame and bead combinations for belts, wristbands etc.

A well stocked arts and crafts like around here called "Michael's" would be a good shot too.

moose