Rusty Blades mk II

[Gav]

My coach was cleaning out his tool shed and found some old blades. He decided to let us take our pick of the one he no longer wanted. I got a couple of really nice BF blades AND a couple of good quality yet rusted blades. The other guys have cleaned theirs up using sand paper (guess what I'm doing this weekend) but I was wondering what products people used for long term storage as I won't be putting the weapons together for a while.

[DamedEscrime]

Many people I know store their blades inside lengths of PVC (plastic) pipe. This keeps the blade dry and protected from any harm. The important thing is to store them in a dry place so they don't rust. About 1m of pipe should do the trick.

[Mergs]

Building on what Dame said, you can collect up some desicant packs and seal them in the tube also.

I have also seen folks put a light coat of oil on them and then clean them with acetone prior to wiring them.

[neevel]

If you've got access to a grinder with a wire-wheel, I find that's the easiest and most effective way to get rid of rust. If it's just surface rust, there shouldn't be any problems once clean. If there was enough rust to cause pitting, they may not be as durable as new blades once you start using them.

Once they're de-rusted and clean, rubbing on a thin coating of light oil (gun oil works well) will help keep moisture off-- you can easily wipe it away when you get around to wiring the blades. Some manufacturers and vendors will coat blades with Vasaline when putting them in inventory-- this works very well to keep rust away, but is obviously a bit messy when you need to handle the blades and time consuming to clean off.

-Dave

[Inquartata]

Oil is fine for short-term storage, but over time any dust particles which settle will "pierce" the oil barrier and wick moisture to the steel, resulting in corrosion pitting. For long-term storage, use a neutral, i.e. colorless, shoe polish or paste wax. This is what the Metropolitan Museum used for many years on their arms and armour collections. It will impart a slightly dull film and will be a bit more difficult to wipe off than oil...but less so than cosmoline or Vaseline!

The sealed PVC with dessicant is a good idea, too. If you're really cautious, you could do both...

[swordsen]

Unless you are talking years of storage just stick them in a closet.
as for surface rust I like steel wool over sandpaper or grinding wheels.

[sallearmourer]

The problem with using a wire wheel is if you not careful you can heat up the blade and change the temper of the blade. I use Naval Jelly sometime to remove the rust. Wipe it on for a few mintues and wipe it off.

For stoage the use of the netural shoe polish works fairly well.

Tim