[Nathan Robinson]

[Jon K.]

How much is this process of removing the paint, powder coat, bluing or what-have-you, going to damage the mace itself. Will it make the metal more brittle and less functional?

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Ant Mercer]

I'll post some pics of my mace tomorrow, but fwiw the paint stripper I used won't damage the steel itself. It's marketed as being designed for use on wood, and leaving the bare wood in a good condition ready for re-finishing. It certainly didn't do my example any harm, even between welds.

Only of use to you if this other version is in fact painted, of course...

Cheers,

Ant

[Jon K.]

[Ant Mercer]

Here are some pics as promised. Bear in mind that the bluing job wasn't a 100% success - I was down to my last few drops of solution and tried to make it go as far as possible. Ended up with a gunmetal-type finish which I quite liked.

The grip is just leather thonging glued and wrapped which I preferred to the leather wrap provided.

Hope the pics help.

Cheers,

Ant

[Jon K.]

First of all, you are DA MAN! Very nice job. The finish is fantastic. Did it look alot different before you added the Birchwood Casey? I would have thought the Birchwood Casey would add a more black finish.

Here are some pics as promised. Bear in mind that the bluing job wasn't a 100% success - I was down to my last few drops of solution and tried to make it go as far as possible. Ended up with a gunmetal-type finish which I quite liked.

The grip is just leather thonging glued and wrapped which I preferred to the leather wrap provided.

Hope the pics help.

Cheers,

Ant[/quote]

[Ant Mercer]

Aaawww...

It really wasn't a tricky project - if it were, I wouldn't have been able to do it! The paint stripper did its job very well: dab it on; wait; dab some more on; it peals off. A wire brush helped get any remaining bits of paint out from between the fiddly bits. The finish underneath was nice: a brighter one than after the casey application, but nice enough. I did consider leaving it as it was, but wanted to carry on fiddling with it...

As I said, I was down to the last dregs of solution, so the darkening effect wasn't as intense as it would have been otherwise. I have blued hilts before, using a decent amount of solution, and the result has been much darker. The beauty of the stuff is that you can vary your results: keep treating with solution until it's black; or stop after one or two applications and wire-wool it until it's got a grey finish. If you don't like the look of it, just clean it off (I find brasso wadding works well enough) and start again.

Hope this helps with your decision, anyway!

Cheers,

Ant

[Jon K.]

Has anyone heard of this product. Its supposed to take the finish off just about anything without damaging the original surface. This little bottle has a hefty price tag at 15 bucks in a Manhattan hardware store. ( I probably wont be getting it there) Apparently you are supposed to leave this to dwell for 1-6 hours?!? I can just see myself coming back to my newly renovated (dissintegrated) Gothic mace. I figured I would ask if anyone had any experience before I spend the money. Would people advise against Zipstrip? What about using a wire brush drill bit on a low setting if sandpaper proves ineffective? Thanks for everyone's help and patience. I am new to this and although I love working with my hands, I am not that handy.[/list]

[Eric G.]

John K and all –

It was when I saw the windlass German mace review by Mr. Sean Flynt that inspired me to do this myself. You see, I had purchased the Windlass’ Italian version of that mace about a year prior. I never really liked the black paint on it but never dared to mess with it for fear of screwing it up… ha. Well, so over the last few days I have been working on this mace myself.

At first I tried sanding it by running a 400 grit piece of sandpaper over the octagonal shaft. That got the more shiny lines up and down the shaft that you see.






After just a little bit I decided that was way too much work. The next time my wife went to the store I asked her to pick up some paint remover. She brought home this



John K. that pic is for you :-) I don’t know how much it was, but it must not have been much or my wife would have said something ;-)

I ended up applying 2 layers to the shaft and three to the head of the mace, letting it sit overnight every time. I used a scrap of wood to scrape the orange gunk and paint off of the shaft and a grout brush to scrape it off of the head.



I did some detail work with a razor and a nail, pictured below.



After that I cleaned it up and here is the result.





As you can tell there is still some shine on the shaft from where I sanded at first, so next I sanded ... and sanded... and sanded. When that was done I added some brown leather for the handle.


Any suggestions on how to further improve it are welcome. =)

[Johan Gemvik]

How about you try wrapping the handle with wire?

Apart from that I think it looks nice as it is now. Rugged yes, but maces are supposed to be.

[Jon K.]

First of all, I am new to the world of Arms & Armour collecting. I am pleasantly surprised how helpful and friendly everyone has been on these forums. I really appreciate it.

Well, I am still waiting for my mace to come in. Should be in this week. I am still not sure what am going to do as far as removing the finish. Eric...the job you did on your mace is fantastic and something I wouldn't mind having as an end result. I might take the same path.

I thought Zip Strip might take the finish off the fastest. I also wanted to use a wire brush atatchment to a drill on a low setting. Would anyone seriously advise against this. I figured they would be the most quick and painless way of removing the finish. I could also see them also being the most likely to damage the metal. Eric, seems to have done the "homework" for me, but it will be very difficult for me to do the 6 hour application because of certain logistics in scheduling and location. I can still try to find a way. However, if anyone would strongly advise against Zip Strip and/or the wire brush.....speak now or forever hold your peace. LOL

-Jon K

[Eric G.]

John K.

I am new at this too, so no worries! I have been interested in medieval weaponry for basically my whole life, but have just recently discovered how very far I can delve into this... my wife likes it far less than I ;-)

As far as the wire brush goes -- yes, I would advise against it. I borrowed a dremel and a wire brush attachment from my dad. I wanted to use it to finish the work that my paint remover didn't do. Well, the brush was brass, and before long my mace looked a little brassy too. I was not happy with that so I tried various other tools in the dremel kit. They did not produce a desired result, and one even really messed up one of the flanges so much that I had to sand and sand and sand a lot before I could remove the traces of it.

Now, that being said, I have a message from the very knowledgable Sean Flynt where he says that he used a wire brush. I just can't recall if he used it on the whole thing or just in the crevices... I wish I still knew.

All in all I found the paint stripper goo and 400 grit sand paper (which is just what we happened to have at home, not an expert's selection) to be sufficient.

Be sure to post lots of pics!

Johan,

Any good threads here on wire wrapping? I must admit, I am interested but don't know much about it.

[Jon K.]

Sorry, I don't have any pictures right now...things happened much faster than I thought. So I get the mace in the mail along with some other items-from KoA...I look at the mace, seems to be very well made, very well designed, but it has that bright shiny black finish. So the moment of truth arrives. As you known I have, been deliberating on what to do thus far, with advice coming in from all over the world- thanks to these forums....BUT its time to go to work. I rush off but not without a quick stop a local hardware store. I buy a wire drill, bush, sandpaper in various grains, some paint stripper (name is escaping me), a spatula, and some other stuff for a war hammer project. I go to work. I return back late and prepare to get started.

I wanted to see how to the paint is. So I use some rough sandpaper to test how good its on there. WAIT A MINUTE! What's this. Its coming off. I mean its really coming off. I am a few strokes in and I can almost see the steel underneath! This is without ANY paint thinner, stripper, varnish, or anything.......and in about an hour.....I took ALL of the paint that I wanted off, with rough sandpaper and a wire bit brush. It left a real nice patina that I am pretty happy with. Its not bright, and I didn't want it to be, because I wanted the antiqued look. It looks pretty damn good if I don't say myself! I could post pictures but the results are pretty similar to Eric's Italian flanged mace.

Well, that ends that discussion. LOL.......sandpaper, maybe a wire brush, and THAT'S IT. If I had spent a little more time, I bet I could have stripped the finish off clean.

Now onto another project that i have run already run into problems...Windlass German war hammer. Its a different topic so perhaps I will post it on a different thread. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for everyone going above and beyond the support I would get. I am very happy with the mace. Now to tackle the war hammer!

-Jon K

[Eric G.]

John,

I know I am a little late responding to this one, but I'm interested in two things from you. First, any pics of the finished product? Second, I just got a war hammer from KoA too, and I'm interested to know which one you purchased and why. Pics on that one would be nice too.

The war hammer I got was the one by Ritter Steel... um, I still really like the look, but it came in horrid condition (covered in grimy gobs of what looks like automotive grease and grime) and weighs in at just under 7lbs. Waaaayyy too heavy if you ask me. Everyone that I've let hold it automatically slides their hand up to the top of the shaft to make it more comfortable, rather than dealing with the super heavy hammer head throwing it off balance.

[Jon K.]

[Eric G.]

John,

You and I are in the same boat with being new to this stuff. I've always liked arms and armor, but never really knew how much good information is out there until recently. I feel like I've just been re-introduced to an old and awesome friend. There are tons of projects that I want to take on, but I (like you) have very little experience and resources. Don't bring yourself down about it though - everyone has to start somewhere. =)

I am excited to see pictures. If the hammer you got is the one I am thinking of, I actually like that hammer. I like it more now that I know it's only 2lbs. The thing that I don't like is that in some of the pictures on KoA (some, not all, which worries me) show that the head and the back spike are blued... mmmm.... I don't like that. It makes it look too modern. However, when I see the pics where the steel all the same color I like it a lot.

Finally, I'm not offended at all with what you said about the Ritter Steel war hammer. I had definitely heard that their swords were heavy etc, but I didn't suspect that their hammer would be nearly as heavy as it is. Regardless, I like the top spike and the back spike and the hammer head... so yeah, I like how it looks, even if I don't ever intend on buying anything from them again. =)

I'm including this pic of the war hammer below. Please excuse the poor quality - it was dark outside when I took the pic and artificial lighting didn't do it justice. =)



ps. if you find anything fun to smash with your war hammer please share. So far I haven't thought of anything amazing to clobber with it =)

[Jon K.]

[Robert A]

That came up very, very nicely Jon. The blackening around the head makes it look... used.

All of a sudden, I want me a mace!

[Colt Reeves]

I'm posting this here because it pertains to my WIP on my Windlass German Mace.

I have finally gotten around to applying lots of acetone and elbow grease to the sucker and have removed most of the black paint.

There was one thing I wanted to do to it that I wasn't sure of, and that was wire-wrap the grip. I looked around for existing examples of real maces with wire wraps, but didn't really see any online. (Logically, it seems like it would be difficult for people not possessing superglue to get a wire wrap to cooperate on a smooth metal hilt, but I'm no expert.)

So, are there any surviving maces with wire wraps and does anyone have any handy pictures showing such?