Lebanese / Syrian Dagger

Conogre · 7th June 2005, 06:18 AM

Acetone often takes off old antique laquer with extreme ease in only minutes.....I too recently aquired a laquered Afghan Khyber knife, and it was clean in less than 5 minutes with no effort.
DO work in an open or well ventilated area though, as it's extremely bad to inhale (no matter how good you might feel for a few moments) **grin**
By the way, for those of you not familiar with buffalo horn, often that's what's mistaken for "black plastic" as it does have a superficial resemblance...it's extremely common on Arabic and middle eastern knives, swords and daggers as a hilt material.
Mike

Aurangzeb · 7th June 2005, 11:15 PM

Hi Conogre!

Thanks for the help I be sure to try it as soon as I get it. Most of those cleaners smeel absolutly horrid. I have a type of glue that makes my eyes water just being around an opean tube, can't possibly be good for anyone.

Conogre · 9th June 2005, 04:23 AM

Not good is an understaement, with many solvents known carcinogens of the worst kind, and sadly, they are often abused as "inhalents" by teens, sometimes with fatal results.
By the way, many of these knives are indeed worn thrust through the sash like the typical jambiya, while some scabbards have rings and are worn as we would wear a belt knife, usually with ornate fabric baldrics.
To "restore" these for dispaly you can get curtain tie-back ropes in many better fabric stores that often have an elaborate knot on the ends, much like the originals and with a very impressive end result.
Mike

7th June 2005, 06:18 AM	#1
Conogre Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Clearwater, Florida Posts: 371	Acetone often takes off old antique laquer with extreme ease in only minutes.....I too recently aquired a laquered Afghan Khyber knife, and it was clean in less than 5 minutes with no effort. DO work in an open or well ventilated area though, as it's extremely bad to inhale (no matter how good you might feel for a few moments) grin By the way, for those of you not familiar with buffalo horn, often that's what's mistaken for "black plastic" as it does have a superficial resemblance...it's extremely common on Arabic and middle eastern knives, swords and daggers as a hilt material. Mike

7th June 2005, 11:15 PM	#2
Aurangzeb Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 306	Hi Conogre! Thanks for the help I be sure to try it as soon as I get it. Most of those cleaners smeel absolutly horrid. I have a type of glue that makes my eyes water just being around an opean tube, can't possibly be good for anyone.

9th June 2005, 04:23 AM	#3
Conogre Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Clearwater, Florida Posts: 371	Not good is an understaement, with many solvents known carcinogens of the worst kind, and sadly, they are often abused as "inhalents" by teens, sometimes with fatal results. By the way, many of these knives are indeed worn thrust through the sash like the typical jambiya, while some scabbards have rings and are worn as we would wear a belt knife, usually with ornate fabric baldrics. To "restore" these for dispaly you can get curtain tie-back ropes in many better fabric stores that often have an elaborate knot on the ends, much like the originals and with a very impressive end result. Mike