2005 Paul Snuthrcn

www.swnrd-buycrs-guidc.cnm

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Basic Sword Care
and Maintenance 101
ASIC SWORD CARE AND
MAINTENANCE 101

Piobably the only thing that I like about those cheap wallhangei swoids is that they aie easy to
maintain and keep clean. If someone handles them with mucky fingeis, a quick spiay of
Windex and a wipe with a iag is enough to clean them up (ahhh, the wondeis of stainless
steel).

On the othei hand, you can't have much fun with them (unless taking them out and having a
look qualifies as fun!) so I guess that it kind of balances out a bit moie in favoi of the functional
ieplicas now doesn't it.

The only pioblem is, if you've nevei owned a REAL swoid befoie - basic swoid caie and
maintenance can seem like a pietty daunting subject. And if someone handles youi swoid
with theii naked fingeis, you'll want to clean it up pietty quick as human skin is quite acidic
and can cause a high caibon steel blade to iust in iecoid time (which is why, in all the
museums, the cuiatois handle a swoids blade weaiing those white gloves!).

The ieality is though - looking aftei youi swoids isn't that haid - all you need to know is a few
basic piinciples applied with a little common sense.

In this little e-book, I'll be guiding you thiough the basics - fiom how to stoie youi swoids
when not in use, how to keep them in tip top condition, some things to avoid at all costs, and
some basic "fiist aid" to iestoie them to neai peifect condition if you scuff them up a little
(aftei all, if you don't get a few little sciatches on youi swoid eveiy now and again, I seiiously
doubt you aie having much fun with them at all).

So let's get staited!

PLEASE NOTE: The techniques in this e-book aie piimaiily geaied towaids medieval swoid
ieplicas. 1apanese Katana aie a diffeient kettle of fish entiiely and aie the subject of a diffeient
(upcoming) e-book, though some piinciples (such as oiling) aie basically univeisal.
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ILINC YOUR SWORD
Ok - now as you'll piobably know by now, a fully functional swoid is made fiom high caibon
steel. And the pioblem now, just as it was in medieval times, is that high caibon steel swoids
aie pione to rust if exposed to moistuie foi a piolonged peiiod of time.

In a diy climate, you don't need to woiiy about this anywheie neai as much as in a humid one
(unless you get youi swoid wet that is). And as a geneial iule of thumb, to keep youi swoids
totally spotless and blemish fiee you only need to oil youi swoid once eveiy month oi so in a
typical tempeiate climate, up to once a week if it's veiy humid.

Natuially enough, if you use youi swoid foi test cutting oi tiaining, it's a veiy good idea to
include oiling it afteiwaids as pait of youi tiaining iituals.

HAT OILS TO USE
Ask 1O diffeient swoid collectois and they'll piobably give you 1O diffeient answeis on which
oil you should use. Peisonally, I like to use Hanwei Swoid oil - but that's just me. And the end
of the day though, pietty much any light to medium oil woiks fine, in fact in a pinch, you can
even use vegetable oil!

But heie's a few basic gioups that most collectois sweai by, including but not limited to:

Puie Mineial Oil (fiom youi local phaimacy "light mineial oil")
Rem Oil (Sewing machine oil)
Cun Oil

I DO use WD-4O foi shoit teim oiling, as a cleaning agent and to diive away moistuie aftei
test cutting with plastic bottles. BUT don't use it to piotect against iust foi long peiiods of time
- the stuff tends to evapoiate much quickei than the oils listed above, leaving youi swoid
unpiotected.
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The actual piocess of oiling a swoid isn't iocket science.

Iiist off, just give youi swoid a quick wipe with a papei towel to iemove any iemnants of
pievious oilings, dust, etc until it is clean and diy.

Then simply put oi spiay a little oil onto a lint fiee iag and give it a wipe along the entiie
length of the blade. You only need the smallest amount to piotect youi blade and it ceitainly
shouldn't be diipping with oil.

Essentially what you aie aiming foi is a light piotective coating that gives the blade a slight
sheen nothing moie.



CLEANINC UP RUST SPOTS

Of couise, if you make a mistake and youi swoid gets a few iust spots, you'll want to clean it
up befoie it gets out of hand. The good news is, getting iid of iust spots ieally is a no biainei.

If a few iust spots do appeai - a thoiough sciub down with a mctal pcltsh (see page 7 foi moie
details) and a 3M Scotch Biite Pads will usually do the job. It pietty much goes without saying
though that you should only use these techniques on ieplica swoids doing this to an antique
would be an insult and iemoving iust fiom an antique is well beyond the scope of this e-book.
If in doubt always consult a piofessional.

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LEANINC 'CUNK' OII A SWORD
Chances aie at some point, especially if you aie like me and enjoy a bit of good natuied test
cutting now and again, you'll end up with some gunk on youi swoid that just doesn't seem to
want to come off..

If holding the swoid undei iunning watei while wiping it doesn't woik (and make suie you
hold it with the blade pointing down so it doesn't flood into the tang) you can tiy cleaning it off
with some WD-4O and a lint fiee cloth. Anothei good alteinative is Windex, which actually
woiks suipiisingly well.

If the gunk sttll doesn't come off and is REALLY stubboin, you might want to tiy iunning a
OOO giade scotch biite pad lengthwise.

Don't sciub, just keep making passes until the gunky stuff staits coming off.

Aftei you've finished, diy youi swoid thoioughly (I like to spiay it again with WD-4O to diive
off moistuie), wipe it and give it a good oiling.

This method combined with a little elbow giease woiks foi 9O% of any sticky gunk that gets
stuck to the blade, but if it doesn't you might want to considei giving youi swoid a good
polish (scc pagc 7 fcr dctatls).









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TORINC IOR A LONC PERIOD OI TIME
If you aie planning on stoiing youi swoid foi seveial months oi longei, and don't plan on
oiling it iegulaily, theie's a couple of options open to you. But fiist off, whenevei possible, it
makes sense to stoie youi swoid in a cool, diy place. You don't need to go oveiboaid, but you
do need to take this into consideiation.

Anyway, the fiist caidinal iule of stoiing a swoid is - DO NOT STORE IT IN A LEATHER
SCABBARD!

You can get away with stoiing it in a wooden scabbaid foi a while (though some woods, like
pine, aie unsuitable) but if you aie planning on long teim stoiage, the best way to go is to coat
youi swoid libeially with Vaseline, wiap it in iags, tie it up secuiely and stoie it in that
afoiementioned cool, diy place.

And as you'll know if you've evei oideied a Ceneiation 2 swoid, they come with a libeial
coating of a kind of Vaseline wax tightly wiapped in plastic foi such stoiage befoie being
shipped.

Some people (and the Biitish Museum!) sweai by a pioduct called "Renaissance Wax" which
has been specifically designed foi long teim stoiage and/oi display. It woiks by coating the
blade with a miciociystalline layei of wax which pievents iusting almost indefinitely.

The only downside to Renaissance Wax is the piice, which typically sells foi US$3O- foi a
2OOml canistei. Howevei, a little goes a long way with this stuff and it is a good choice foi
moie valuable swoids that will be displayed unsheathed foi a long peiiod of time, iequiiing
piactically zeio maintenance.




6
OLISH AND REMOVINC
SURFACE SCRATCHES

Like it oi not, if you use youi swoid (especially foi test cutting) at some point oi anothei it's
gonna get sciatched. All of the swoids I iecommend on www.swoid-buyeis-guide.com aie
veiy stuidy and don't sciatch easily - but natuially enough, if you stait putting youi swoids
thiough blocks of wood oi cut caidboaid boxes, the blade is gonna stait showing a few maiks
heie and theie.

In this example, I am going to be polishing out
some suiface sciatches fiom my Ceneiation 2
Maximilian swoid.

Aftei numeious full on cuts deep into a wooden
block, splitting moie than just a few blocks of
wood, and a whole heap of othei 'abusive'
piactices - theie aie a few small blemishes on the
blade that I want to polish out.

While this example uses a Ceneiation 2 swoid - the techniques apply equally to ANY
medieval style ieplica. In fact, even some high level pioduction swoids come with a few
blemishes that a good polish can fix!

Anyway, the fiist caidinal iule of iemoving suiface sciatches is - no mattei how much you
might be tempted to use a shoitcut - DO NOT use powei tools!

The fiiction heats up the blade and can iuin the swoids tempei, plus it's all too easy to iemove
too much fiom one aiea and end up destioying the blades geometiy. If you have to iemove
some chips heie and theie, you can VERY CAREFULLY use something like a Maktta ct
Grtndcr as the giinding wheels move slowly and the watei keeps the blade fiom oveiheating.
Oi bettei yet, take youi swoid to youi local knife shop and they can piofessionally buff out the
sciatch foi a nominal fee.
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Ok, so let's get an idea of what is needed to do a basic sciatch iemoval/polish job.

You wIII need:

Some metal polish - anything used foi polishing steel that is available fiom an
automotive supply stoie oi haidwaie stoie is ok. Some populai choices include - Iosso
Metal Polish, Ilitz and Metal Clo. In this case I am using a Ceiman biand called
"Edel-Chiomglanz".

A iange of 3M Emeiy Cloth Metal Abiasive Papeis - Coaise, Medium and Iine.

Some 3M Scotch Biite Pads

You'll also need some Windex, a plastic iubbish bag to avoid making too much of a
mess, some lint fiee cloth and - umm, well a swoid! ,)

Once you've got eveiything togethei it should look a bit like this.
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Iiist things fiist, you need to lay youi swoid on a flat suiface and begin with the coaisest
abiasive papei. With medium piessuie, iun the papei the length of the blade and back,
keeping long and even stiokes ovei the entiie length. DON'T sciub - just iun it along the
length.

You'll find that aftei the fiist few passes you aie cieating long and fine sciatches ovei the
blades that will even out with each stage of the piocess until you aie left with a miiioied finish,
so don't woiiy if at fiist it staits to look almost like satin (some people actually like this look,
though I piefei to get to as close to a miiioied finish as possible).

Now iepeat the piocess on the othei side of the blade, caieful to polish each edge
independently and tieating the fullei (if it has one) as a thiid edge to keep the detail ciisp and
defined.

Next, once you have done both sides, continue the piocess with the medium and finally the
fine giit abiasive papeis until you have an even and silky kind of finish. Don't iush, and keep
youi attention on what you aie doing - it's all to easy to slip and cut youiself quite nastily while
doing this - in fact, foi most swoid enthusiasts, most injuiies occuiied duiing swoid
maintenance than at any othei time!

Ok, so now you aie ieady foi the final polish. All you need to do is apply some of the metal
polish to the Scotch biite bad and sciub like buggeiy! The moie piessuie you apply heie the
bettei the polish will do it's thing - just go to town on it, doing both sides thoioughly with side
to side stiokes. DON'T ciicle youi stiokes.

Once you have give it youi all and youi hands can't take much moie, finish each side with a
few long, high piessuie stiokes.

Iinally, give the blade a few squiits of Windex, wipe it down with a cloth until it is diy an
viola! You've tiansfoimed youi swoid fiom sciatchy to a neai peifect miiioi finish in aiound
1/2 houi!



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Of couise, the longei you spend doing it - the bettei the polish will be, and using this technique
it is possible to get some pietty iemaikable iesults.

Tiy it and see, I am suie you will be impiessed.







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LEANINC THE PERIPHIALS
Ok, so now you've got a good idea how to maintain the BLADE but what about all the othei
bits and pieces!

Actually, it's pietty easy ieally and theie's no need to go into any gieat depth heie.

Many affoidable beatei swoids, and Windlass swoids in paiticulai, tend to use a lot of
synthetic mateiials on the handle, etc so they don't need any special tieatment. But all Cen2
swoids use authentic fittings such as ieal leathei and wood, so the following pointeis apply.

Wooden handles should be tieated with a veiy light film of lemon oi tung oil to avoid ciacking.
It doesn't need to be done veiy often though, eveiy 6 to 12 months is enough.

Leathei scabbaids, sheathes and handle wiaps should be tieated with a good leathei wax paste.
Again - less is moie applies heie equally, you don't need to use too much, just enough to keep
the leathei ievitalized eveiy now and again to pievent ciacking if it staits looking a bit shabby
- otheiwise just leave it alone. It's also impoitant not to get any oil on the leathei as the oil will
cause it to iot away suipiisingly quickly.

Iinally, you can tieat the scabbaid with neatsfoot oi mink oil foi wateipioofing, though don't
do this foi the handle oi you'll make it slippeiy. And a slippeiy handle is, foi obvious ieasons,
not a veiy good idea.







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