Seeking Advice on Scabbard Problem -- myArmoury.com

Peter Remling · Posted: Tue 30 Jun, 2009 3:40 pm Post subject:

Yeah Mike it will! The only issue you may have is if the rods start to jam as the wool gets caught in them. If this happens, turn off the vacuum, then simple ensure the rods are clear before starting again.

Actually fellow workers in 3 different companies i've worked for have called me Macgyver. Big Grin

Peter Remling · Posted: Wed 01 Jul, 2009 4:24 am Post subject:

Larry, I mentioned the rod trick because you said you already had a cgun cleaning kit, is there anything available over there that is a stff metal or plastic tube that could be used. possibly a thin copper pipe ? Copper would be good because it's fairly easy to flatten a bit with a hammer, if it is too wide to begin with.

Larry Lim · Posted: Thu 02 Jul, 2009 3:12 am Post subject:

Hi Pete,

Thanks for the excellent suggestion on the hallow copper tubing; I'll go look for one.. There're no Walmart type of large DiY stores here in SG, only small ones in neighbourhood areas so I'm not sure if they do sell such tubing. But it's definitely worth a try - a drowning man will catch at a straw, they said Happy

I'm rather tempted to pour those 'ArmorGuard' silicon solution into the scabbard, too, if all else fails Sad

Thanks to all for all your good suggestions. I learnt many things here Happy

Cheers,

Peter Remling · Posted: Sat 04 Jul, 2009 4:46 pm Post subject:

Larry

Found a substitute: aquarium plastic rods with an outer diameter of 3/16". Sold in 3' lengths. Being that it will be for this purpose only, file down the end to make a small shovel/scraper. This is the end you'll insert into the scabbard. As this is a normal aquarium item it should be easy for you to obtain.

If it's not obtainable over there just let me know and I'll pm you a site that has them cheap.

Larry Lim · Posted: Sun 05 Jul, 2009 4:20 am Post subject: Re:

Thanks for the lead, Pete! There's an aquarium just over the opposite neighbourhood... I'll give it a shot in the coming week, and keep you all updated if I make progress Happy

Thanks a zillion, all ^_^

James R.Fox · Posted: Mon 13 Jul, 2009 11:39 pm Post subject:

Sirs-I think thst moisture is still the problim. Classical japamese steel would rust if you even touched or breathed on the blade. If your blade replicate classical Japanese steel, then you must look around for a japanese cleaning kit. The samurai cleaned his sword with rics psper,then oiled it (I forget with what,) then powdered it with chalk dust. Further the mouth of the scabbard was shaped to make an air tight seal when shoved against the hilt.(Can't remember all the fancy Japanese names.)

Michael Edelson · Posted: Tue 14 Jul, 2009 8:06 am Post subject:

If you're developing THAT much rust (30%? brown?), then something got into your saya, probably a good deal of water, while you had it lying around without the sword in it.

It will eventually dry out, so you can do what J suggested and store (this time upside down!) for a month or two. Or you can do the other thing he suggested and split it.

If you want a quick fix, try the WD-40. With all respect to J, who knows what he's talking about with regards to Japanese saya, this is not a Japanese saya, and I doubt it's made of honoki wood (if it is then disregard). WD-40 will displace the water and not harm the wood, but may not get all of it. Peter's idea is a good one too, and it will speed up the drying considerably.

Are you able to get this rust off without damage to the blade finish?

Larry Lim · Posted: Thu 16 Jul, 2009 11:37 pm Post subject:

Dear Michael & James,

I really do not know what exactly happened to the HW Tiger Katana. It used to be my priced piece, but in my effort to polish off those rust (twice), the nice folding hada and part of the greyish hamon are gone. The blade now resembles a mono-steel katana. Pathetic Sad

I have let its previous owner down Sad

Here's a walk through of the incidents, in hope that some of you could pin-point the cause of the rust:
Since day one it arrived at my doorsteps (Nov '08), the sword has always been housed within its scabbard; and it was stored that way, inside its shipping box, for a good 1 month at least, because I ran out of place to display it. I only took it out to re-oil once or twice. And miraculously, nothing happens. When my shogun tachi type stand arrived, I displayed the Tiger Katana on it. Gorgeous! Then one day, I decided that my room's too dusty and I decided to wrap the katana inside a cloth sword bag while displayed on the shogun stand. About 2-3 weeks later, I took the sword out to admire and was shocked to see the amount of rust & light pitting on the blade!! That's the beginning of the nightmare.

I manage to clean & sand off most of the rust on the blade. By now the hada are gone, but I manage to keep all the greyish hamon. I deligently removed & re-oil the blade, and kept the sword separate from the scabbard for a week. No new rust re-surfaces. So I progress to removing & re-oiling once a week instead, while keeping the sword separate from scabbard still. After abt 3 weeks, I deduced it may be safe to re-insert the blade into the scabbard. So I did, and 2 days later, decided to draw out the blade to check, just in case, and lo-and-behold, the all too familiar light brown stuffs on the blade Again! I re-sand the blade, this time with high grit sandpapers, thinking it may not harm the hamon... but I was wrong - part of the hamon and a large part of it on one side of kissaki was polished off now! Sad Sad

As you may noticed:
1. The sword was stored in the scabbard - no change since the day it arrives;
2. I 'took' greater care of the sword by cleaning & re-oiling it after it's officialy on display stand;
3. Rust dicscovered 2-3 weeks after I hood the Tiger Katana on cloth bag, while on display stand;
4. Rust re-surfaced even after I cleaned the blade and re-insert it into the scabbard for just 3 days!

Honestly, I find it hard to believe that pure moisture in the scabbard could develop rust on blade within a short span of 3 days; and even if it is so, the blade would have rusted long time ago when it first arrived in my home in Nov '08 or Dec '08. Why only recently? Thus, my conclusion - something sinister within the scabbard! Heheh..

Michael Edelson · Posted: Fri 17 Jul, 2009 6:14 am Post subject:

Larry,

I have good news for you...your sword was never polished to the extent you think it was, it was almost certainly acid etched (as are 99% of all Chinese made katana). You can polish the entire blade to a nice uniform finish (use scotch brite not sand paper so as not to erase the lines) and then etch it (there are tutorial here at myArmoury), and it will look better than it did when it was new.

If you don't want to do it yourself, there are several myArmoury members that do this for a small fee.

And do yourself a favor...if you use choji oil, dump it and get breakfree CLP or Remoil. The smell will suck, but it's about 10 times better for corrosion resistance than mineral oil.

J Anstey · Posted: Sat 22 Aug, 2009 2:10 am Post subject:

I regards to the cause - I recently came across a couple of people with exactly the same problem with the Tiger.

It seems that the manufacturers have use green wood and it is the leaking of sap within the core that is the issue. I would be using alcohol to help dry it out but I think this is going to take a long time for the wood to stabilise.

It is wrong that some manufacturers supply a saya like this, I would certainly be taking this up with them demand that they replace what is obviously not suitable to house the sword they sold.

Cheers

Jason

Larry Lim · Posted: Sat 22 Aug, 2009 6:47 am Post subject:

Hi Michael,

Thanks. Have tried my hands on re-etching on parts of blade that have the original 'hamon' gone (due to sanding + claening) but it's ugly, so I've decided to engage one of the forumite to restore the blade to avoid further damaging the blade Sad

Hi Jason,

I've tried to PM to a Hanwei rep (in another forum), but to no avail. . Perhaps we can all throw in some ideas to get 'their' attentions Happy