Cleaned up basket hilt

[sydnie7]

It looks great! What did you use to clean it? I have my great grandfather's saber from the Civil War- in near perfect condition, aside from tarnish- and I would love to clean it.

I'd be sure to check with an expert before touching that. How many times have the appraisers on Antiques Roadshow said "And if it hadn't been cleaned, it would be worth. . . [insert some multiple of the quote here]." You can easily ruin a valuable piece or seriously damage its worth.

Just my $0.02 / IMHO / YMMV!

[BroosterB1]

I'd be sure to check with an expert before touching that. How many times have the appraisers on Antiques Roadshow said "And if it hadn't been cleaned, it would be worth. . . [insert some multiple of the quote here]." You can easily ruin a valuable piece or seriously damage its worth.

Just my $0.02 / IMHO / YMMV!

Yup Tarnish = Patina
Patina= Age
Age= $

Hawk this is especially true if you have documentation on your kin's saber, you may never sell it, but you sure don't want to lose value just to make something "Pretty".

[MarkMcM]

Don't mess with it. More harm has come from well intentioned cleanings than you know.

[macwilkin]

It looks great! What did you use to clean it? I have my great grandfather's saber from the Civil War- in near perfect condition, aside from tarnish- and I would love to clean it.

NOOOOOO!!!

DO NOT CLEAN AN ORIGINAL SABRE FROM THAT PERIOD!

I have seen that so many times when I was working at the battlefield. It destroys much of the value of the weapon according to a collector friend of mine.

T.

[Strings]

As someone who worked FAR too long refinishing metal, let me agree with those who have said "leave the saber alone"! I shudder to think at the damage I've seen done to heirloom pieces over the years...

As for preserving the basket and blade: use Renaissance wax. Works better than ANYTHING I've ever seen.

Oil is good, but you have to keep reapplying.

Last thought: if it has a leather sheath, don't store it IN the sheath. Many leathers have chemicals that will combine with oil and turn into an acid (have a rapier that was damaged that way. Don't ask about the Automags!)...

Looking good so far!

[cavscout]

If this is an antique, go with what others have said about getting it evaluated by an expert and care for it accordingly.

Assuming this is a replica and you would rather it be polished, I've had good results with jewelers rouge and a buffing wheel. I'm not saying the experts will agree but sicne I don't do it for a living and don't want to put a lot of money into it, I'm working with what I have on hand. You have to be very careful so the metal doesn't get to hot but working in short bursts or across a large area I've not had any problems getting badly tarnished blades looking good again.

[Woodsheal]

If this is an antique, go with what others have said about getting it evaluated by an expert and care for it accordingly.

Assuming this is a replica....

Greg's sword looks to be one of the Indian or Pakistani made replicas. That's not a bad thing! Those folks are skilled metal workers, and their hand-forged blades quite decent. My main quibble with these broadswords are the over-sized baskets....

[Strings]

Do folks want me to detail how we used to take care of issues like this?

I know most people don't have polishing lathes in their workshops, but the ideas do sorta carry-over...

[Nighthawk]

Well, I guess I'll leave the tarnish then! Thanks for the advice. I had actually at one point thought for about .5 second about getting the blade reforged into a basket hilt... and then my better sense kicked in! That sword is astounding- 150 years old and it still has all of it's spring and flexibility.

[Strings]

DO. NOT. TOUCH!!!!!

Not that I have feelings about it, or anything...