Pattern-welded (twist core) Budiak

Battara · 15th November 2010, 04:03 PM

Salamat Po Bro!

Lee · 15th November 2010, 04:46 PM

Photoshop attempt:

Lee · 16th November 2010, 04:40 PM

It turned out that I was only about halfway in separating the components when I made my last post. It turned out there was a deep vein of epoxy still binding tang to wood and the silver foil sleeve. An eight hour soak in methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) would penetrate and soften about a millimeter thickness of the epoxy with further softening not observed from a longer soak. The weakened epoxy could then be scraped away with a dissecting needle and the cycle repeated for days. The old tar-like material, still tacky in places, but mostly dried, originally securing the blade in place was much more vulnerable to the MEK and the tang finally released. Soaking of the wood and silver continued until I could no longer reach the remaining epoxy between the silver and the wood. At this point I gave it a bit of time to dry and applied heat with a kitchen stove-top burner. The MEK residue still lit a couple of times. Finally the remaining epoxy failed and I got the silver tube free from the remains of the shaft. The silver tube went off to Battara and I suspect he had been expecting something more substantial - this silver was really more a silver foil - thicker than kitchen aluminum foil but not nearly as thick as the wall of a typical food can. The torn areas were a bit too distorted for recovery, so we decided to sacrifice about an inch of this area as the design was in a helix and repeated.

In due course I hope to get this on a pole, leaving a hidden backing of copper seamless tube beneath the silver sleeve. It is nice to have gotten the wood out reasonably intact to see how the blade was mounted - the tarry substance was doing most of the work - unfortunately, the wood is unlikely to provide further clues of its origin.

Rick · 16th November 2010, 08:10 PM

I believe the third man from the right in the group picture posted above holds a spear with a similar head to Lee's example .

Good patient job with the MEK Lee .

I'll pray for your Liver ...

migueldiaz · 16th November 2010, 10:42 PM

Hello, Lee. As an aside, I've always liked looking at the pics you take, as they show subtle details. Do you use artificial lighting, or are the pics taken on an overcast day? Hope you can give us a tip or two

Thanks in advance.

Gavin Nugent · 17th November 2010, 12:39 AM

Great post Lee,

The step by step process you followed is quite interesting and the image is great, that new camera really is a good one!

Unlike the Moro Spear I presented that has a long brass/bronze collar to support the tang and head, I found it very informative to know how thin the silver collar was on this piece, nothing more than decoration and a cylinder shaft to contain the resin when initially made...

It just goes to show, a little time and thought, some good specialist help with the silver and a cleaning of the steel brings with it rewards very satisfying. This approach can be applied to any weapon in these pages that wants or needs to be enhanced, repaired or restored.

The new wood shaft should prove interesting too. Do you have resources to have a full length new one made? I know I would be happy to provide details of width and taper. From there you could aquire what you need to cast and complete the butt cap and then have a complete representative example of a wonderful weapon.

Great work.

Gav

Battara · 17th November 2010, 02:56 AM

Greetings Folks!

Lee asked me if I would comment on my end of the silver work. Here is a quick synopsis of what I did:

Well, when I got it, as Lee said, I thought it would be thicker stuff. However, it found it to be almost literally paper thin (no kidding!). This in itself presented a problem in trying to braze sections together - they would melt!

The area that was torn in half was not only too thin, but the metal was warped and stretched. No way to pull it all together without melting, and if I were by some miracle able to, the sleeve would bend over. Instead we decided to cut the parts and I soft soldered them together, covering over the area with the original intact ring.

One of the rings was also in this kind of shape. In this case, however, I had to make an entirely new one from scratch. The silver I used was a little thicker so that I could braze it properly as well as use a dapping block and mandrels to give the ring some semblance of curvature on the sides. I also incised lines on the outside of the ring to match the others.

Another thing I had to do was to reshape the top and bottom of the piece - they were dented and misshapen. This includes reshaping the bottom ring. Lots of hammering and re-hammering on different mandrels.

Finally I took off all the dirt and corrosion. I gave it several levels of buffing and polishing to get rid of all the 100 years of oxidation. This brought it back to life the way it was meant to be.

There you have it. More work than I was expecting, but well worth it. Very pleased to do it.

15th November 2010, 04:46 PM	#2
Lee EAAF Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Upstate New York, USA Posts: 937	Most interesting images ... thank you! Photoshop attempt: Attached Images

16th November 2010, 04:40 PM	#3
Lee EAAF Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Upstate New York, USA Posts: 937	Follow-up It turned out that I was only about halfway in separating the components when I made my last post. It turned out there was a deep vein of epoxy still binding tang to wood and the silver foil sleeve. An eight hour soak in methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) would penetrate and soften about a millimeter thickness of the epoxy with further softening not observed from a longer soak. The weakened epoxy could then be scraped away with a dissecting needle and the cycle repeated for days. The old tar-like material, still tacky in places, but mostly dried, originally securing the blade in place was much more vulnerable to the MEK and the tang finally released. Soaking of the wood and silver continued until I could no longer reach the remaining epoxy between the silver and the wood. At this point I gave it a bit of time to dry and applied heat with a kitchen stove-top burner. The MEK residue still lit a couple of times. Finally the remaining epoxy failed and I got the silver tube free from the remains of the shaft. The silver tube went off to Battara and I suspect he had been expecting something more substantial - this silver was really more a silver foil - thicker than kitchen aluminum foil but not nearly as thick as the wall of a typical food can. The torn areas were a bit too distorted for recovery, so we decided to sacrifice about an inch of this area as the design was in a helix and repeated. In due course I hope to get this on a pole, leaving a hidden backing of copper seamless tube beneath the silver sleeve. It is nice to have gotten the wood out reasonably intact to see how the blade was mounted - the tarry substance was doing most of the work - unfortunately, the wood is unlikely to provide further clues of its origin. Attached Images

17th November 2010, 12:39 AM	#6
Gavin Nugent Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,818	Great post Great post Lee, The step by step process you followed is quite interesting and the image is great, that new camera really is a good one! Unlike the Moro Spear I presented that has a long brass/bronze collar to support the tang and head, I found it very informative to know how thin the silver collar was on this piece, nothing more than decoration and a cylinder shaft to contain the resin when initially made... It just goes to show, a little time and thought, some good specialist help with the silver and a cleaning of the steel brings with it rewards very satisfying. This approach can be applied to any weapon in these pages that wants or needs to be enhanced, repaired or restored. The new wood shaft should prove interesting too. Do you have resources to have a full length new one made? I know I would be happy to provide details of width and taper. From there you could aquire what you need to cast and complete the butt cap and then have a complete representative example of a wonderful weapon. Great work. Gav

15th November 2010, 04:03 PM	#1
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,280	Salamat Po Bro!

16th November 2010, 08:10 PM	#4
Rick Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,339	I believe the third man from the right in the group picture posted above holds a spear with a similar head to Lee's example . Good patient job with the MEK Lee . I'll pray for your Liver ...

16th November 2010, 10:42 PM	#5
migueldiaz Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Manila, Phils. Posts: 1,042	Hello, Lee. As an aside, I've always liked looking at the pics you take, as they show subtle details. Do you use artificial lighting, or are the pics taken on an overcast day? Hope you can give us a tip or two Thanks in advance.

17th November 2010, 02:56 AM	#7
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,280	Greetings Folks! Lee asked me if I would comment on my end of the silver work. Here is a quick synopsis of what I did: Well, when I got it, as Lee said, I thought it would be thicker stuff. However, it found it to be almost literally paper thin (no kidding!). This in itself presented a problem in trying to braze sections together - they would melt! The area that was torn in half was not only too thin, but the metal was warped and stretched. No way to pull it all together without melting, and if I were by some miracle able to, the sleeve would bend over. Instead we decided to cut the parts and I soft soldered them together, covering over the area with the original intact ring. One of the rings was also in this kind of shape. In this case, however, I had to make an entirely new one from scratch. The silver I used was a little thicker so that I could braze it properly as well as use a dapping block and mandrels to give the ring some semblance of curvature on the sides. I also incised lines on the outside of the ring to match the others. Another thing I had to do was to reshape the top and bottom of the piece - they were dented and misshapen. This includes reshaping the bottom ring. Lots of hammering and re-hammering on different mandrels. Finally I took off all the dirt and corrosion. I gave it several levels of buffing and polishing to get rid of all the 100 years of oxidation. This brought it back to life the way it was meant to be. There you have it. More work than I was expecting, but well worth it. Very pleased to do it.