Sword conservation

ariel · 26th December 2016, 10:28 PM

OK guys,

Having read tons of contradictory recommendations on the net, appealing for help to professional conservators in several university-based archeological museums ( standard answer: put it in a plastic bag with some dessicator, close the bag and never open it again) and even buying a book of practical pearls of wisdom by a renown restorer ( useless junk), I decided to take the problem into my own hands.

Alan, you should always listen to your parents: lime is removable with vinegar.

Recipe: buy a plastic bin with the bottom longer that the sword. Put the sword in and pour distilled vinegar 5% to cover it. Close the lid ( I did it in the laundry room and my wife refused to go in because of vinegary smell).
Keep it there for a couple of hours. Scour the sword with a nylon brush. Clean narrow spaces ( rivets, crossguard) with a medium tooth brush.
Having worked on it for 15 minutes, take it out, pour the vinegar into the sink, wash the sword and the bin with water several times.
Put the sword back, cover with water, add shitload of soda, let it sit for another 15 min ( scour missed areas meanwhile).

Wash again, dry . Finita la commedia!

Lime is gone, loose rust is gone. Now I can even see the remnants of the wooden handle, the tunkou and the terminal double-edged diamond-shaped segment of the blade. A classic Khazar!
Now the question: should I cover it with Renaissance Wax or with Rust Converter ( tannate + polymer) to make it look black like the Bauernwehr I showed earlier?

A. G. Maisey · 27th December 2016, 12:19 AM

Ariel, my father was born in 1912, and I did listen to his advice before he was promoted to another realm, however, I cannot recall that either he, or my mother ever advised me to use vinegar to remove lime, had they done so, and had I needed to do so, I very probably would have used it.

The process you describe is pretty much a scaled down version of what I do to clean any corroded old blade.

26th December 2016, 10:28 PM	#1
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	OK guys, Having read tons of contradictory recommendations on the net, appealing for help to professional conservators in several university-based archeological museums ( standard answer: put it in a plastic bag with some dessicator, close the bag and never open it again) and even buying a book of practical pearls of wisdom by a renown restorer ( useless junk), I decided to take the problem into my own hands. Alan, you should always listen to your parents: lime is removable with vinegar. Recipe: buy a plastic bin with the bottom longer that the sword. Put the sword in and pour distilled vinegar 5% to cover it. Close the lid ( I did it in the laundry room and my wife refused to go in because of vinegary smell). Keep it there for a couple of hours. Scour the sword with a nylon brush. Clean narrow spaces ( rivets, crossguard) with a medium tooth brush. Having worked on it for 15 minutes, take it out, pour the vinegar into the sink, wash the sword and the bin with water several times. Put the sword back, cover with water, add shitload of soda, let it sit for another 15 min ( scour missed areas meanwhile). Wash again, dry . Finita la commedia! Lime is gone, loose rust is gone. Now I can even see the remnants of the wooden handle, the tunkou and the terminal double-edged diamond-shaped segment of the blade. A classic Khazar! Now the question: should I cover it with Renaissance Wax or with Rust Converter ( tannate + polymer) to make it look black like the Bauernwehr I showed earlier? Attached Images

27th December 2016, 12:19 AM	#2
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,029	Ariel, my father was born in 1912, and I did listen to his advice before he was promoted to another realm, however, I cannot recall that either he, or my mother ever advised me to use vinegar to remove lime, had they done so, and had I needed to do so, I very probably would have used it. The process you describe is pretty much a scaled down version of what I do to clean any corroded old blade.