Hi all,

I'm a novice collector, having purchased my first items several months ago. I'm now noticing the first traces of rust on several pieces, so I'm quickly immersing myself in how to properly care for my gear.

The rust is appearinig on a soft iron pilum and some longbow arrowheads, and I'm pretty confident in scrubbing that out and then coating with oil. However, seeing this rust appear so soon is making me focus on proper maintenance for my other pieces as well. I've read the myArmoury piece on Caring for Replica Swords, and also done a search of the forum and found some really valuable threards. Nonetheless, I'm left with a few questions for the experten around here...

1) The current pride and joy of my collection is an Albion Hospitaller. I've noticed that I've left one or two fingerprints on it, and want to get started with taking those off. Per the articles, my plan is to use a Scotchbrite Ultra Grey pad and BreakFree CLP oil, following the Albion web site instructions by working down the blade from hilt to tip.

The question is whether I should also be using a polish with an Albion blade? I know that metal polish will create a nice gleam to the sword, but is that historically accurate? I'd like the piece to look as authentic as possible, not necessarily "pretty". Or should I stick with the steel wool, Scotchbrite and oil?

2) I also have a Windlass Falcata which is showing some slight darkening in patches on the blade. It's not rust (yet), and being new to this hobby, I'm unclear what's developing rust versus what's the natural aging of the blade. How do I tell the difference? In other words, shouold I just seal the sword with oil, or do I need to scrub and polish to remove the slight darkening patches, then coat with oil?

I'm sure these are totally newb questions, but I want this collection to last for many years to come, and would rather not learn by trial-and-error!!

Thanks,

Chris

For those readers who have not yet done so, please have a look at this article regarding polishing and care:

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Care and Maintenance of the Modern Replica
An article by Patrick Kelly

I think that repolishing the entire blade because you have a bit of rust is a tad excessive. In the humid weather up here lately, anytime I handle my Crecy I need to clean it up because it invariably starts getting some rust within a few days. What I do to maintain my sword is use a product called "Nevr Dull", which is some sort of anti-rust compound applied to cotton wadding. It is an automotive care product, for chrome wheels, and I suspect you'll probably find a similar product at your local hardware store. I also use Marine Tuff-Cloth to stop it from rusting while it's not being used. I find that it cleans up minor rust fairly well, and does a great job of stopping rust on the blade from developing at all. Hope this helps.

Living here in Louisiana, believe me... I know humidity! And I have only ONCE EVER had a problem, and it was when I slacked off and didn't clean up like I should. My secret? Silicon gun/reel cloth. Just wipe your sword down with a silicon cloth before hanging it up/putting it away. It gets rid of fingerprints, and covers the blade with a protective layer of silicon in one quick step.
When I have to get rust off my helms after a rainy fighter practice, I use steel wool. Quick rub down with steel wool to remove the rust, and a follow up with a silicon cloth, and its like new...

While we're on the topic of cleaning, I was doing some wet-cutting (2L's filled with water) and I have noticed black marks starting to appear on my blade. Attempts to take them out using fine steel wool and Household oil have failed. Also, there are places on the guard that are acquiring minor rust-spots. Same problem, the steel wool and oil can't get to it. Has anyone else had these issues? Other than that, I have to say, I am pleased with the household oil and the job it does in protecting the blade. I put a few drops, rub it in with the wool, then take off the excess using a rag. Am I doing this correctly?

Excellent choice on the Hospitaller Christopher!

Just as a sort of counter point to other's posts- not contradicting them just giving a different approach.

Currently, I also use breakfree for oiling however in the past I used olive oil which also worked well. The deal with olive oil is that it is more messy and requires more frequent care. You may find it cool to use a more traditional method like this however. My experience is that it also seemed to cause the steel to develop a hue or touch of patina over time much quicker than the breakfree. SInce I began using breakfree 2 years ago my swords look exactly the same in terms of the appearance of the steel. I like the idea of steel that has picked up some character with time- not rust or corrosion- just a little bit of deepening of the hue of the steel.

One more thing Christopher- and many well disagree with me here but I don't really or rarely do I oil my hilt components. If a spot shows up I remove it. I like how the hilt changes with use.

Jeremy

Thanks all for the varied replies!

I spent some time last night and hit my gear with 0000 ultra-fine steel wool and BreakFree CLP oil. Worked great at removing the patches of rust on the pilum and arrowheads. Also cleaned up the Hospitaller and Falcata, but when I put them back I could see in the angled light there was still some discoloration on the Hospitaller blade from my previous fingerprints.

Thinking I need to come back with something more like Scotchbrite grey for that portion of the blade.

I've also picked up some of the Gun/Reel Silicon to protect in the future - appreciate the tip!

Chris

For more stubborn stains, I've used grey scotchbrite with Metal-Glo metal polish. It removes crud pretty easily and leaves a nice satin finish behind.

Addison mentioned Nevr Dull. It's both a cleaner and metal polish. The can calls it a "Magic Wadding Polish." I've used it for polishing a variety of metal: brass, silver-plate, etc. I hate the smell of the stuff (it'll stink the whole house up) and I think Metal-Glo would be better for stubborn staining/rusting.

I use a good car wax on my blades and hilts and have never had any rust issues over the years.

Grey scotch brite pad doused in Hanwei sword oil will clean off rust and leave a nice finish. After handleling a sword I wipe it clean with a cotton rag with oil residue. Every few days I coat with oil and when I go to use one I wipe it off with that same cotton rag.

i use a teflon based gun oil as well, works really good, just wipe it on after handling just like a firearm.

for cleaning though, i got a variety of things that i've used. to remove stubborn oxidation you need something that's a little bit abrasive but not aggressive.

now myself i've gathered up all the tools to repolish a blade if needed, if all the said products above don't work, i would jump to a #6 polishing compound and a 6 in buffing wheel (or what ever fits your grinder at home if you have one), just be sure to read the safety instructions before attempting this if needed, i have sent many projectiles through my little shop because a buffing wheel caught an edge and flew off into the distance. your approach has to be right but i've done smaller things like rings that have been the cause of that, usually a knife or sword is easier to keep stable.

the only problem with my method is that once you start you might have to do the whole thing. those compounds are made to active with the friction and heat generated from the wheel. if you do a small patch you'll see a line of haze where the edges of the wheel made contact to the metal. to avoid that - you'd just make one big pass on the blades bevel and it will be uniform.

i'd use #6 polish because it's the final polish for mirror quality work, it's really fine and depending on the quality of the blades polish it may not effect it. if it does, it will just turn the blade to a mirror quality or buff it up a little more to a higher quality polish, and you can use 1000 grit sand paper (steel wool etc) to take it back to a more satin finish. personally i consider anything broken down to 600 -400 grit as a stain finish.

I used to use a scotch bright pad and some 3 n 1 oil. It always worked fine for me and it's humid as anything here in the summer. I've also had great results from the concoction known as "Max Wax" made by Darkwood armory. It's olive oil, bees wax, and some stuff they won't tell you. It even makes a good lip balm in a pinch.