how to clean a blade before rewire?

[vincikai]

how to clean a blade before rewire?

and which glue do u think is the best for rewireing job._.

[ReverseLunge]

Acetone bath for 15 minutes then use a nail to scrape all the clue out of the groove after pulling the wire out then another acetone bath for half an hour and you should be cool.

I think super glue is the best glue. You can use rubber cement too since you dont have to bend the blade when you glue but the dry time is much longer.

If you dont have a FIE blade then you might want to sand any rust off before rewiring. The acetone bath will also take some of the rust off.

[Purple Fencer]

Here's what I do:

#1 Getting the wire out in the first place.
Same technique for both foil & epee...wrap one of the wire ends (doesn't matter which end) around the jawn of a pair of needlenose pliers and roll the pliers down the length of the blade. This will not only pull the wire out of the groove (assuming it's not a REALLY tight glue...this technique works really good on superglies because they fracture easily), it will keep the tensikon on the wires down, which will cut down on wire breaks, although they can still happen.

#2 Alternate method #1...useful if you break the wire and there's nothing to grab.
Get a copper tube to hold acetone. Length will depend on if you use pistol or French grip, and/or if you do armore for other parties. For a French grip weapon, a 42" length is good. You;dd need to cap both ends of the tube. The bottom can be a slip cap...the tolp should be a female/made adapter (the top is threaded so you can screw on a cap to keep the acetone from evaporating). The joints MUST be soldered closed to prevent evaporation or leaking of the acetone.
Drop the blade in the tube overnight. The acetone will dissolve the glue.

#3 Alternate methon #2...works great if you;re pressed for time.
Get a Dremel tool and a diamiond cutting wheel. The wheel is technically a cutting wheel, but it works very slowly...perfect for grinding the wire out of the groove. You also should use the same technique even if you do the acetone bath....it removes any residuce when you remove the blade.
When you grind a wire, keep in mind the superglue fumes and mist that will come up...use a breathing mask & goggles.
With the wheel running, run it slowly along the length of the groove...you may have to work a spot for a little bit to get through the wire and to the blade surface...you'll probably see the wire curling up out of the groove.
You need to get the groove completely clear. The technique a touch different for foil vs epee because of the differance in the groove width. You need to angle the wheel so it not ony gets the center of the groove, but the side walls to remove all the glue or residude.

Once done, run a Q-tip with rubbing alcohol down the groove to get the crud up, then the blade of a knife down the groove to get anything pushed into the groove and there you have it.

Yeah...it can be labor intensive at first, but a clean blade is a happy blade...and few popouts are better!

As for glue, I've always used superglue. The problem with superglue is, it fractures easily...and when the glue breaks, the wire can pop out.

Lately I've been using a superglue with a bit more of a rubbery content to it. You can find it at http://devcon.com/devconfamilyproduc...205.0&catid=40 It's pricey (about 2X normal superglue) but if used properly, popouts are minimized because it stretches a little instead of fracturing right away.

I also use an accelerant when gluing...lay the glue down, soak a q-tip in the accelerant and run it down the blade...let it sit for a minute and it's cured and ready to go.

Hope this helps.

[Purple Fencer]

Originally Posted by ReverseLunge

Acetone bath for 15 minutes then use a nail to scrape all the clue out of the groove after pulling the wire out then another acetone bath for half an hour and you should be cool.

In my experience, 15 minutes is not long enough to get all the glue out...overnight is better...why do more work than you have to?

I think super glue is the best glue. You can use rubber cement too since you dont have to bend the blade when you glue but the dry time is much longer.

Ahhh....bend the blade first, regardless of glue type...you weant to pre-tension the wire so it's ready to be bent on a touch...wire ot straight and it may snap on a touch.

If you dont have a FIE blade then you might want to sand any rust off before rewiring. The acetone bath will also take some of the rust off.

I've nevre seen acetone remove rust (and trust me...I've seen some damnned rusty blades from school teams!). You need a bench grinder with a poishing wheel for that...p;lus it smooths out the nicks in the blade that may leade to a break, or at least a splinter.

[ReverseLunge]

Originally Posted by Purple Fencer

In my experience, 15 minutes is not long enough to get all the glue out...overnight is better...why do more work than you have to?

Well I said 15 minutes to loosen the wire from the glue then another 30 minutes to dissovle the glue. Fresh acetone can dissolve supper glue in just a few minutes. Sometimes you dont have the luxury of leaving your blade in the copper tube overnight unless you have your own at home.

Originally Posted by Purple Fencer

Ahhh....bend the blade first, regardless of glue type...you weant to pre-tension the wire so it's ready to be bent on a touch...wire ot straight and it may snap on a touch.

The reason you have to bend the blade when you wire using super glue is because super glue dries hard and makes the wire hard too. Rubber cement doesn't do that. Rubber cement bends with the blade and it allows the wire to bend with the blade.

Originally Posted by Purple Fencer

I've nevre seen acetone remove rust (and trust me...I've seen some damnned rusty blades from school teams!). You need a bench grinder with a poishing wheel for that...p;lus it smooths out the nicks in the blade that may leade to a break, or at least a splinter.

Acetone will loosen some of the powdery surface rust from a blade. It will not remove deeper layers of rust. I would never use a bench grinder on a blade. That is way too strong just for rust removal. And why would you want to grind down your blade until all the nicks are gone? Some of those nicks can be like a millimeter deep. 220 grit or higher sand paper will do just fine.

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by Purple Fencer

I've nevre seen acetone remove rust (and trust me...I've seen some damnned rusty blades from school teams!).

There's quite a few products out there that remove rust that are not acetone or a polishing wheel. (Rust removers). I tried one recently, and it WORKED. Like WOW, did it work. My blade was nice and shiny again! You can probably get one where you get acetone. I don't kow any specific product names.

[Purple Fencer]

[quote=ReverseLunge

Acetone will loosen some of the powdery surface rust from a blade. It will not remove deeper layers of rust. I would never use a bench grinder on a blade. That is way too strong just for rust removal. And why would you want to grind down your blade until all the nicks are gone? Some of those nicks can be like a millimeter deep. 220 grit or higher sand paper will do just fine.[/QUOTE]


Polishing wheel....not grinding wheel...softer abrasive (at least the one I;ve been using is) A lot easier on the muscles then hand sanding...particularly if you;ve got a LOT of weapons to do. By hand is fine if you're doing only your own gear...but if you do anyone elses...

[ReverseLunge]

Originally Posted by mrbiggs

There's quite a few products out there that remove rust that are not acetone or a polishing wheel. (Rust removers). I tried one recently, and it WORKED. Like WOW, did it work. My blade was nice and shiny again! You can probably get one where you get acetone. I don't kow any specific product names.

What's it called and how do you use it? Just how well did it work?

[Purple Fencer]

Originally Posted by ReverseLunge

What's it called and how do you use it? Just how well did it work?

Brasso is the one that comes to mind...is it something like that?

If it works as well as the polishing wheel and with the same amount of effort, I'll certainly check it out.

[ReverseLunge]

Really? Brasso is for polishing. I had no idea it removes rust.

[Purple Fencer]

Originally Posted by ReverseLunge

Really? Brasso is for polishing. I had no idea it removes rust.

Just throwing something out...the only rusty htings I've had to work on in years ARE fencing blades, and I use the bench grinder for that (as outlined above)

[wwillis]

Windex and a Scotch-Brite pad will do a great job of removing rust, and the Scotch-Brite pad will even smooth some of the smaller nicks on the blade. This also works well to remove the scratches on the guard, especially the matt finished ones.

[wbowman]

Best glue I've found for wiring blades is something called "Pliobond." It's like rubber cement only stronger (and harder to get off your hands). It will adhere to both the metal of the blade and the fabric of the wire's insulation -- and is flexible. I usually just scrape it out when I change a wire, though that does take some time (good, mindless, tv-watching activity).
Only trouble is, it's now getting hard to find in a squeeze tube. Last time I bought any, I got it by mail from an outfit called Micro-Tools (www.micro-tools.com), which sells it as an adhesive to repair camera bags.

[The Armourer]

I have done a lot of these! I strip the blade with a product called Nitromors - its intended to remove several layers of paint or varnish so is very caustic (ie wear gloves). The glue I use is Araldite contact adhesive - first glue and wait until full strength the wire up to about 2" from the tip then run a bead of glue down the blade then I glue the wire in under tension wrapping the free wire around the tang and leave it for a day (if your in a hurry - cook the glue by gentle heat from a hair dryer)

The Armourer

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by ReverseLunge

What's it called and how do you use it? Just how well did it work?

Don't remember.

Squirt it on a towel and wipe a few times.

The rust was gone. Just gone. Like the blade was brand new. I don't know what the product was, so it's possible that it took a significant portion of the blade with it, so I can't guarantee it's a good idea.

[ReverseLunge]

Originally Posted by mrbiggs

Don't remember.

Squirt it on a towel and wipe a few times.

The rust was gone. Just gone. Like the blade was brand new. I don't know what the product was, so it's possible that it took a significant portion of the blade with it, so I can't guarantee it's a good idea.

That's just great.

[brtech]

Try using a hot air gun. Go get one from Home Depot or similar. You want the kind they use for paint stripping. The cheap ones used for crafts aren't good enough. Use a spring clamp or something to hold down the tang, and heat up the wire channel. Use a needle nose pliers to pull the wire up. When you heat it up right, the wire comes out very easily; if you are yanking on it to get it to come out, get it hotter.

The advantage is that if you do it right, the glue comes out with the wire.
The channel is left pretty clean; someimes clean enough to do the rewirewith no other effort. I use a razor knife to clean any remaining bits while the blade is pretty warm; comes out easier then.

The whole process takes 5 minutes - no waiting for the acetone.
This works especially well with super glue, but it seems to work with most of the glues I've encountered so far.

If you are really in to it, get Ted Li to show you his hot air gun. It's sweet, has adjustable temperature with a digital temp measurement, and a very narrow tip. A tool like that COULD get the blade hot enough to worry about losing the temper of the blade, but the paint stripper wont.

[geezer]

If you're afraid of rust, use "Naval Jelly", but you'll have to scrape it afterward with a fine grit paper anyway. Acetone, sharp and fine pointed objects, followed by grit in finer and finer sizes...builds character and improves karma.

[Oscar78]

I put the blades in an acetone bath for a couple of hours, then scrape the groove with a very small flathead screwdriver. After I get the wire in I use super glue for the initial bond, then I top glue with a product called "Fletch Tite", used by bowyers to glue the fletching on arrows. You can buy it at Wal-Mart during hunting season, and at speciality sporting goods shops year around. I've had very good results with this combination. Always top glue with something, super glue alone...at least when I use it...will let the wire protrude eventually.