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Christopher B Lellis
Location: Houston, Texas Joined: 01 Dec 2012
Posts: 268
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 Posted: Mon 17 Nov, 2014 9:10 pm Post subject: How did medieval men take scratches out of their swords? |
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After battle or maybe practice, swords get scratches. I use scotchbrite heavy duty and a bit of CLP oil. After running it down the blade relatively lightly about 10 times or more, it usually does a pretty good job of taking light scratches out.
They didn't have scotchbrite 1000 years ago so if known what techniques did they use to cleanup their steel?
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Mike Ruhala
Location: Stuart, Florida Joined: 24 Jul 2011
Posts: 335
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| Posted: Mon 17 Nov, 2014 9:12 pm Post subject: |
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Artwork suggests they had leather strops which were presumably used with some kind of abrasive.
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Christopher B Lellis
Location: Houston, Texas Joined: 01 Dec 2012
Posts: 268
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| Posted: Mon 17 Nov, 2014 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Mike Ruhala wrote: | | Artwork suggests they had leather strops which were presumably used with some kind of abrasive. |
By any chance do you have a link to some of this artwork? I'm wondering if they took the sword to the strop or the strop to the sword and how exactly they ran it down the blade, or the blade down the strop.
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Hector A.
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| Posted: Tue 18 Nov, 2014 12:55 am Post subject: |
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Looking at museum swords it seems they didn't much if ever, i'm guessing they would have the sword re-sharpened and polished every now and again and that by default would remove the scratches.
But on an everyday or use basis? No way... its just to time consuming for any real benefit.
Now taking care of the edge that's another story, but an edge ( or two ) can't compare to an entire sword!
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Glen A Cleeton
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| Posted: Tue 18 Nov, 2014 10:04 am Post subject: |
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Abrasives were and are everywhere.
Cheers
GC
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Mike Ruhala
Location: Stuart, Florida Joined: 24 Jul 2011
Posts: 335
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| Posted: Tue 18 Nov, 2014 1:25 pm Post subject: |
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I attached a pic of the strops for you. Scotchbrite is more efficient but strops are effective. They also had large stone wheels of the type that were used in the cutlery industry well into the 19th c for shaping and sharpening. Polished swords cut better and that's probably got something to do with why we hear so many old stories about legendary swords shining brightly in the so and so forth. The blade doesn't have to be mirror polished all the time or anything like that but every bit helps a little, people have done experiments with modern paints that have engineered-in lubricants and have noticed a boost to their cutting performance. The H/T's will cut better if you polish them up a bit, too. Oh yeah, polished surfaces resist rust a little better as well.
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Mark Griffin
Location: The Welsh Marches, in the hills above Newtown, Powys. Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 802
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| Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2014 1:43 am Post subject: |
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there are refs (although not to hand) of various mills renting out grinding stones for use by cutlers. Winchester springs to mind, its mentioned in a dig report. What type of gringding, rough, middling or finishing/re-polishing isn't mentioned.
Currently working on projects ranging from Elizabethan pageants to a WW1 Tank, Victorian fairgrounds 1066 events and more. Oh and we joust loads!.. We run over 250 events for English Heritage each year plus many others for Historic Royal Palaces, Historic Scotland, the National Trust and more. If you live in the UK and are interested in working for us just drop us a line with a cv.
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Christopher B Lellis
Location: Houston, Texas Joined: 01 Dec 2012
Posts: 268
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| Posted: Fri 21 Nov, 2014 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Mike Ruhala wrote: | | I attached a pic of the strops for you. Scotchbrite is more efficient but strops are effective. They also had large stone wheels of the type that were used in the cutlery industry well into the 19th c for shaping and sharpening. Polished swords cut better and that's probably got something to do with why we hear so many old stories about legendary swords shining brightly in the so and so forth. The blade doesn't have to be mirror polished all the time or anything like that but every bit helps a little, people have done experiments with modern paints that have engineered-in lubricants and have noticed a boost to their cutting performance. The H/T's will cut better if you polish them up a bit, too. Oh yeah, polished surfaces resist rust a little better as well. |
Oh whoa, that's very interesting. Too think there would be an old drawing of even the cleaning of a sword too. Very good 
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Ryan A. Currier
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| Posted: Wed 31 Dec, 2014 11:30 am Post subject: |
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Interesting stuff! And here I am over here just worrying about my edge and deep mars... So... I can gain more performance with a higher polish maybe? I'll have to dingy up some swords that I know how to cut with and then polish them bright and test this out. I expect it to be more up to me then the polish..... but it is interesting all the same. Cool ^^
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Mikko Kuusirati
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| Posted: Wed 31 Dec, 2014 1:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Ryan A. Currier wrote: | | Interesting stuff! And here I am over here just worrying about my edge and deep mars... So... I can gain more performance with a higher polish maybe? I'll have to dingy up some swords that I know how to cut with and then polish them bright and test this out. I expect it to be more up to me then the polish..... but it is interesting all the same. Cool ^^ |
Note that the difference is very small, even marginal. Unless your technique is very precise and consistent (or your blade very roughly finished to start with ) you probably won't notice much of an effect because other factors will completely overwhelm it.
"And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."
— Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum
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Mike Ruhala
Location: Stuart, Florida Joined: 24 Jul 2011
Posts: 335
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| Posted: Wed 31 Dec, 2014 3:03 pm Post subject: |
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It can add up to more than you might think though depending on the target. For instance on tatami a mittelhau is harder to perform as cleanly as a zornhau because of the extra friction of the mat pressing down against the blade rather than falling away. In real world terms it would be a marginal gain but it is noticeable.
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This is a standard topic