[Martin Buckley]

Hello everyone, a fairly simple question really. I have a few reproduction swords that I've aquired recently and I'm wondering how is the best way to care for them? They are kept on a display stand and are taken off and used every week or so. How often should I give them a clean? what are the best things to use to clean them?

Thanks

[Chad Arnow]

From our Features page: Care and Maintenance of the Modern Replica.

[Daniel Wallace]

we all care for our blades in different ways. there are a variety of ways to preserve the steel everything from teflon based petroleum products to waxes. it all will depend on what you prefer. if your using your blades about once a week, a little rub with on oil cloth will probably be enough.

now cleaning - that depends too, what are you cleaning off? just a little dirt, or something more serious like freckling (small back dots of surface tarnish)?

[Martin Buckley]

Never heard of freckling! What is it and how do I get rid of it?

[Daniel Wallace]

freckling is like what you see on older blades like antiques. black dotting that's not exactly reddish rust. some steels are prone to it like D2 tool steel. it's just on the very surface of the steel and is more like a tarnish in the early stages and is relatively easy to buff off. but if it's been on the blade for a while it starts to turn into a pit of red damaging rust. for the freckles to turn into a pit it takes years unless someone is artificially ageing a blade using corrosives.

freckling happens on the areas of the steel that are either dry or have come in contact with your hand or leaving a finger print behind by accident. freckling can happen really quickly too, if you don't oil your blade after usage and don't store it in an airconditioned environment freckles can appear in about a day or two depending on the humidity in the air.

freckling is a term i actually picked up from another collector i don't know if there's another more widely used term for the beginning stages of rust. o yeah there is oxidation duh . . . where was my brain as i was writing this?

if your blade is freckled, i first use eagle one mag and aluminum polish on a cloth, it removes the oxidation and will buff the blade back to a shine. if that doesn't work, switch to something a little more abrasive, wet a rag and get a tad bit of baking soda on a section of it (you won't need much). it's a very fine powder, but will scuff the surface of the steel to scratch off the oxidation. don't worry you won't see the scratch at all. if that doesn't work, try 0000 grade steel wool. now this buffing you might be able to see depending on the grade of polish on your blades. if that doesn't work to remove the oxidation, then i start to repolish the entire blade - if it's really bad, i'll start with 400 grip wet sanding paper and work up to 600 grit - then change over to buffing compounds and a buffing wheel. that process takes a while and i won't get into it just yet.