I've spent I don't know how many hours watching the civilized conversations in your videos about early medieval through 19th century weapons and history. And then you bring in Lucy and reveal you're just a degenerate like the rest of us. Keep up the good work.
Matt you can time-lapse the cleaning process to 500% , so you still cover the process but within the optimal viewing time-limit. P.S we live to watch you buff your weapons and do not want to miss a moment of it.
"Buffing my weapon" The innuendo is strong in this video. There is no such thing as active and inactive rust, iron will continue to rust until it is nothing but rust unlike copper patina which will form a protective barrier from further oxidation. Rust is porous and oxygen will get through it to the iron, copper patina on the other hand is not porous and becomes a protective barrier and then is inactive.
JETWTF There is a difference between red and black rust. I don't know chemically, or how the dark variety comes about, but it seems pretty stable at that stage. (Like eg under the grip of an old katana)
Under a grip means there isn't fresh oxygen to feed the chemical process. Underneath or inside something all the oxygen will be used up and if the whole thing isn't in in a high wind environment there wont be enough airflow to circulate fresh air to replace the oxygen depleted air. Black rust just means that it isn't in an environment with enough free oxygen to keep the chemical process going, once reintroduced to an oxygen rich environment the chemical process will begin again. This is why ancient wood or metal artifacts found in lakes and the oceans is kept wet, the water keeps the free oxygen in the air from starting the chemical process again and destroying the artifacts. iron artifacts that's been underwater for thousands of years are covered in that black rust and not melted away because oxygen in water is already attached to 2 hydrogen atoms and cannot attach to iron though there are always stray atoms and it is those stray oxygen atoms in water that manage to attach to the iron. Once a good crust of this rust is there fewer stray oxygen atoms can get to an available iron atom to create more rust. Is black rust stable? Not in the least, it is just oxygen deprived. Also under the grip of a sword or knife, the oxygen will be depleted but oils will be introduced during normal maintenance and rust being porous does indeed act like a sponge and will soak up oil just the same. Here's a fun thought, if you had a thick enough iron plate and a really thick glass dome that was perfectly sealed to the iron plate and filled with pure oxygen you would eventually have a vacuum inside the glass dome with rust where the iron was. So if you were a jeweler and wanted to create a vacuum to take the air bubbles out of your mold that's one really slow way of doing it but it would work.
Japanese sword tangs aren't usually cleaned, as you say. But I've seen seriously old blades that whilst the "blade" portion is spotless, the nakago (tang) is so corroded that you could likely snap it with a rubber mallet.
@@althesmith Yes its generally frowned upon to mess with the tang or "nakago" in the Japanese sword world. However i think an antique nihonto with a cleaned Nakago will be worth more than one without any at all. I
Camera tip: you can't use auto exposure for videos like this. The camera is exposing for the ground, not the blade. It thinks you're a towel channel not a sword channel. If you set the exposure one or two stops above the default we will be able to see the blade much better.
You might want to look a bit in the background for the video, because the youtube compression ruins the quality and i believe there is some link with the uniformity of the background. But, in the end, it looks as it is filmed by the first phone with camera :(
Yeah I notice it had come out in quite poor quality and I don't know why as it's been done on the same settings as my other videos. Maybe something to do with the towels on the table? Weird.
th-cam.com/video/dJQX0tZsZo4/w-d-xo.html I believe it is the same issue TotalBiscuit described a while ago. P.S.: I think it is the texture of the towels, try something flat next time, like an old bed sheet.
scholagladiatoria Definitely the towel. It has small and random high frequency details, which requires a lot of bandwith to display, to put it simply. That messes up the quality of moving objects in the video. By the way, Finland we call that abrasive pad a "bear tongue". Some people have had their faces licked by brown bears while playing dead on the ground (or by a tamed bear) and apparently bear tongues are incredibly rough and abrasive.
I have noticed it since the video of the Warwick Castle, including the stuff filmed in the Wallace collection. I was wondering if it's a me problem or if youtube played with their compression.
Well I just bought my first 19th century British military sword and it was not in pristine condition, but it had lots of etching and a detailed provenance so I watched the whole thing, ordered those cleaners I didn't have already and look forward to the arrival of my weapon from the UK. THANKS!
As an American, and Minnesotan, that is still a Brillo Pad. And the reason why we call a lot of stuff Scotch is because a lot of things produced by the Minnesota based 3M Company use Scotch in the brand name. So, what you call Cello Tape is marketed here in the U.S. by the 3M Company as Scotch Tape. Reportedly the reason why this is so is because of the stereotype (at least here in the U.S.) of a Scot as being a skinflint, or miser like Dicken's Scrooge.
The both of you did a great job cleaning that blade; it looked so clean that it looks like that you had just gotten that sword out of the armory of the time. It also was a cool way for you to hang out together.
Several decades back I was told by a Major (ret'd) who'd been involved with "the Queen's music" - of a regimental dinner at some time earlier in his career where their Colonel's lady had had a sizeable celebratory cake made for the occasion. When it became time to cut it, the claret & brandy had been in circulation for some time and some wag suggested that the Colonel's magnificent presentation sword be used to cut the cake. So it was well wiped down and the cake duly cut. The sword was parked beside the scabbard on the table as it had become part of the proceedings and later in the evening some junior lieutenant saw it and thought it safer to re-scabbard the sword. But he too had been at the sauce and failed to notice the soiling of the blade from its passage through the heavy fruit cake. The incident was forgotten until at some point - presumably weeks later - the need arose to wear the sword, the cake-involvement having apparently been overlooked due to reasons not entirely unrelated to... claret and brandy And - it could not be drawn from the scabbard - it was as if welded in place. It eventually took a visit to an armourer/swordsmith who had to cut the scabbard open to prise free the now-corroded - and accordingly no longer quite so magnificent - blade. To me, the story's flaw is the junior lieutenant. Who knew that he'd "dunnit"? Would the state of the blade be widely circulated once discovered? Were I the Col, I think I'd have slipped the armourer a few tenners to quietly remedy the damage as best possible and let it rest there... In movies, when I see a sword freshly bloodied in battle being re sheathed while still bloodied, it reminds me of the Colonel's sword. Blood is corrosive stuff, well guaranteed to rust-up a carbon steel blade in no time flat. Yet in same flick, when the next battle scene is shown, do we see a rusty blade being flourished by the hero? I despaired when I saw first that scene in (was it the second) LOTR film where Saruman's super nasty uruk hai were being armed with blades we see being multiply-cast in flat moulds. The consulting armourer must SURELY have told Mr P Jackson that it just ain't done that way, but the silly scene persisted...
Bought an identical (non East India Co.) 1821 pattern today from an antiques dealer at a very low price. Love that now i have an ultimate cleaning guide to the exact same weapon!
25:13 *In case you're wondering why Autosol is fine for cleaning swords, but should NOT be used for cleaning kukris.* Lucy Easton: "So why don't we use Autosol when we clean kukris? Why do I have to use spikey wire wool?" Matt Easton: "Um..." Lucy Easton: "Is it just not abrasive enough for-" [unintelligible as Matt talks over her] Matt Easton: "It's to do- yeah, exactly, it's- so Autosol is not- see that? Look at that!" Lucy Easton: "That is magnificent."
Damn Matt the videos you make with Lucy always make me laugh, she is a real asset to your channel. Good video. Indian Mutiny perhaps, but sure 1st or 2nd Sikh War, or Conquest of Sindh 1843 or maybe even the Persian War 1856-57.
Yeah, there are several kinds of rust. There is the reddish kind of rust (FeO etc.) witch (probably) catches water vapor, and should be removed. And there is that black rust (Fe3O4 - magnetit) witch forms a really nice hard and protective patina (like on carbon steel kitchen knifes). Bevore cleaning a blade you can stick it into boiling water. The heat will transform some of the red rust to magnetit.
Also, we need more of the craziness in the Easton household. I know we got to see the blade buffing, but we want to see what happens when you take care of the hand guard and hilt, too!
I'm really liking these restoration videos one thing I think would be nice to see is like right before the end card if you had a close up of the before and after side by side.
You did a magnificent job on the blade of that sword, it looks almost new. Even if you don't do a video on cleaning the guard and scabbard (but I'd interested in seeing a short video showing how you'd go about it, even if you don't show it from start to finish) you really need to make a video showing us the sword after you're finished restoring everything. I'm sure I'm not the only one interested in seeing what that sword will look like once it's all fully restored. It's a real shame that all of your nicer pieces are out of my price range, every time I see a sword like this on your videos it makes me want to buy it. Sadly, the conversion rate really doesn't work in my favor, but maybe one of these days I'll have the spare cash lying around.
This video ALWAYS CRACKS ME UP!! It is also very helpful and educational, I have learned so much from your videos THANK YOU Matt. If I may say so with all due respect Lucy is quite lovely and how lucky you are! Also I really enjoyed your video on the Chinese Dao and am looking forward to more Chinese weapons, being just a plain white dude they are very foreign to me. Keep up the great work! And if you find yourself needing a good home for the Chinese Dao I am here to help 😜. Cheers! -Casey in Florida
if you're cleaning old oil, varnish etc off a blade with intact etching you might want to try using acetone, it is a fairly strong solvent that doesn't affect metals or patina, just be careful not to get it on non metals bits e.g. shagreen, leather, wood, paint etc
Yes, more Mrs Easton please, both speaking and sparring. Also, can you get a product called Kroil in the UK? If so, you might consider a small bottle for cleaning and freeing things. Great for loosening frozen nuts. My dad always said you only had to sit a can of Kroil in the same room with a rusted nut and it would loosen out of sheer fear.
Wish my HC came up that quickly. Could be a matter of hardness- I recently checked it out again and much of the blade on my Woolley and Deakin HC is sitting around RC55, damned hard for most period blades.
Would appreciate seeing a video of you cleaning a sword with more stubborn patination and pitting. What would you use to clean the surface of the etched portion?
I love ballistol. Not on plated surfaces. I use ballistol if I'm using or carrying something outdoors .but EEZOX for storage. I tried RenWax...but for some reason it didn't perform as well as eezox Matt, have you ever used Evaporust?...its a mild chemical process that takes about 24 hours, is reuseable, non toxic. The black rust is mill scale or hematite. You can actually convert red rust to mill scale by simmering the blade in water for about 10 minutes. As you know, mill scale is far harder to polish off and is far more stable. Walter Sorrells a knifemaker here in the US did a great video on that called Caring for Carbon Steel Knives. Its actually an old gunsmithing technique. If you guys are khukuri Nutter Bunch.then you have to know Simon Hengle of Tora Blades, and my friends at HIMIMP😃
That's a Scotch Brite pad which is made of synthetic fibers, while a Brillo pad is essentially just a form of steel wool that is usually impregnated with a detergent and are only good for one, or two uses before they rust and are thrown away.
Actually the quickest way to clean a sword from rust is to do it like Conan with the Atlantean Sword. You find the nearest ancient rock and you just smash the sword edge against it until the rust crumbles off like friggin' coffee powder. HaHAAAA!
7445 - White pad, called Light Duty Cleansing - (1000) 1200-1500 grit 7448 - Light Grey, called Ultra Fine Hand - (600-800) 800 grit. 6448 - Green, called Light Duty Hand Pad - (600) 600 grit 7447 - Maroon pad, called General Purpose Hand - (320-400) 320 grit 6444 - Brown pad, called Extra Duty Hand - (280-320) 240 grit 7446 - Dark Grey pad, called Blending Pad (180-220) 150 grit 7440 - Tan pad, called Heavy Duty Hand Pad - (120-150) 60 grit Lots of options for scour pads from scotch bite.The white pads are very delicate .
listed in the 1843 London post office directory page 113 is a Bullmore & Patrick, gold lace manufacturers & embroiderers, 17 Bedford street, Covent garden, I'm guessing this is where the sword was from? They are also listed as a tradesperson to Queen Adelaide in the British Imperial Calendar of the same year. Seems their partnership was dissolved in 1847.
Can confirm scouring pads are called interchangeably brillo or scotchbrite this side of the pond. For some reason more recently though people will most often refer to wire wool type as brillo while the synthetic type is most often referred to as scotchbrite.
And the whole Scotch names that Lucy commented on is a 3M thing more than an American thing. They put scotch in the name of a lot of their products. And then they became genericized terms in the US.
There are other options I know that can help. There are blue scotch pads that are finer. There are sandpapers that can get really fine to a mirror polish. There is also jewelers rouge the green is the one I use on most things. You would put the rouge on something and rub on the surface of the blade.
My grandfather gave me a katana that looked like that. I cleaned it off with warm water and a soft cloth. Then uchigo/rice paper/clove oil and there was only a speck of very light rust under the habaki. It would benefit from a polish, but I’m reluctant to lose any metal off it unless it really needs it. Turned out to be a very fine Amada Sadayoshi.
Interesting video. What about the old oil that's still inside the scabbard, can that be cleaned out so it doesn't get all over the blade again ? I hope to see some Irish swords sometime.
To partially contradict a fellow American below, I've never heard a green scrubby called a Brillo pad. Brillo is the brand name of a pad of rather coarse steel wool impregnated with abrasive scouring powder, which I'm sure you would never use on a sword blade! The most popular seller of the green scrubby is 3M Scotch-Brite Pads.
Cecil Brooks At my work we use Brillo Pads. So we call them such but I will say from personal life ive pretty much only heard them called Scotch Pads. But theres loads of leahweigh. Like fender and bumper... Ive never said fender without mentioning guitars.
In America, we save the word "brillo" for Brillo brand steel wool pads. Steel wool might be what you call wire ball, but, I'm not sure. Please correct me if I'm wrong. We usually just call the 3M Scotch Brite scouring pad a "scrubbie". Here Brasso, is sold as a liquid polish, I've never seen the Brasso stuff that you have.
This is just a question I have. This may be completely unrelated, but how are swords used in armored combat (besides going halfswording, I may have a misconception of the main weapon of a armored soldier). Should you even have a sword for armored fighting and are they the main weapon? Sorry for not providing any "eras" (periods?)
Wirewool: I doubt you'll see this comment within these 300+, but if you don't like using wire wool there is a product called 'sanding sponges'. They come in many grits, are rather cheap, and can get in to tight spots. I've finding that a warn one shines up steel pretty well. There is also the trick of gluing or stapling sandpaper to sticks and using nail-files to get into tiny spot. I'm not an expert on restoring swords, but I finally got my first antique sword for restoring and research, and a lot of my cosplay and construction skills seem to be transferring well. Might have to throw up a quick video so people can laugh at my naivety.
Now that was pretty cool, they just showed me an IRON MAIDEN commercial. That's what they called the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Passt, as we say in German. Cheers, Jess
Hi LOVE the banter with your wife. The Brillo pad as you refer to it, has an American name. The trade name here is "Scotch Brite" It comes in 3 different grades, that I'm aware of as a machinist. The grades or grits are; Purple or Reddish (very coarse or aggressive), Grey (medium grit), and White (fine grit or grade). There might be a Green in there too? It really depends on who the manufacturer is? The TRUE Scotch Brite comes in those 3 colors or grade/grits. I tend to soak in Vinegar for gentle cleaning. It removes discoloration pretty nicely, as well as minor "Lacquering" from solidified oils. I hope this in some way helps with our cheeky American use of the English language? Cheers: Stoney
Hello!! Not sure if you watch comments, but I have a question.. A knife store recommended me Barkeepers Friend (t's a mild acid (oxalic acid) and a mild abrasive. You don't have to wear gloves when using it...) to remove rust from a sword I have (Brittish King George V Era Sword).... but after seeing your video, I am doubting if I should use that or not, and can't find any info, really. Here where am, I can only find a different kind of Brasso (I am not sure it's the same, it's now a yellow bottle), and doesnt seem easy to find ballistol. Do you have another reccommendation? Thank you!!!
I believe you are right, that americans call them Scotch pads. Canadians call them green scrubbies. I do have a follow up question though. Do you still have DiDi 7 available in the UK? and if you do why not use that? conversely (if its no longer available), why is it not sold anymore?
Matt, i would love if you could re-upload this video when you have been able to fix the pixelation problem. It's really a fascinating video but it's so hard to watch in this technical state.
I have this same style and make of sword. It came without a scabbard. Been looking online for scabbards but most seem to be for the later 1888 models. What is the length of your sword blade and scabbard?
I got a REALLY bad one a few months ago, The "treacle" oil was caked on so damn bad I got flashbacks to restoring guns stored in cosmoline, except i couldnt soak the parts because i no longer had my tub for mineral baths, I ended up eventually getting it off with mineral spirit scrubbing across several days, and discovered, ironically, that the sword was pitted all to hell.
For that old oil residue, brake cleaner would work great and require little to no rubbing (hate to spoil your fun, lol). Matt, have you considered or tried that in the past? If so, was there a reason you decided not to go with that option? On a side note, for non-abrasive rust removal, I have seen an over night soak in good old Coca Cola work miracles on rusty car parts. It might be worth a try on rusty swords.
Bought my first sword and it is almost exactly this model, the guard and blade are the same. It was very dirty and I cleaned it with WD40 and paper towels, I had to take some time because of rust. It was the right procedure?? I mean after I saw someone saying not to use paper towels.
We have a 1840 "wrist breaker" But there's calligraphy on the hilt and pomel that I've never found on any other sort online it contains the 13 stars for the original colonies and an American shield with a bow underneath. Any ideas?
This video is soo good, you two are so good! But the quality is killing me. I cannot see anything. Is it s bad codec maybe? Bad video editing settings? A problem with the render? Or maybe TH-cam fucked it up, would not be suprised at all.
I've spent I don't know how many hours watching the civilized conversations in your videos about early medieval through 19th century weapons and history. And then you bring in Lucy and reveal you're just a degenerate like the rest of us. Keep up the good work.
A married couple engages in some extreme oiled up buffing on the dinner table.
Is this what love really looks like?
I'd watch you buff your weapon all day, Matt.
;)
Sione Finaulahi (gone violent)
You two have such a great rapport, it's almost like you were married or something. ;)
BigZ7337 they are married, LOL
almost like they're not married buahaha
They are... But don't tell them! :O
It’s nothing like a married banter.
he has the :) he knows...
Towel vs. youtube compression = towel wins
Matt you can time-lapse the cleaning process to 500% , so you still cover the process but within the optimal viewing time-limit.
P.S we live to watch you buff your weapons and do not want to miss a moment of it.
Highly agree!
"Buffing my weapon" The innuendo is strong in this video. There is no such thing as active and inactive rust, iron will continue to rust until it is nothing but rust unlike copper patina which will form a protective barrier from further oxidation. Rust is porous and oxygen will get through it to the iron, copper patina on the other hand is not porous and becomes a protective barrier and then is inactive.
JETWTF There is a difference between red and black rust. I don't know chemically, or how the dark variety comes about, but it seems pretty stable at that stage. (Like eg under the grip of an old katana)
Under a grip means there isn't fresh oxygen to feed the chemical process. Underneath or inside something all the oxygen will be used up and if the whole thing isn't in in a high wind environment there wont be enough airflow to circulate fresh air to replace the oxygen depleted air. Black rust just means that it isn't in an environment with enough free oxygen to keep the chemical process going, once reintroduced to an oxygen rich environment the chemical process will begin again. This is why ancient wood or metal artifacts found in lakes and the oceans is kept wet, the water keeps the free oxygen in the air from starting the chemical process again and destroying the artifacts. iron artifacts that's been underwater for thousands of years are covered in that black rust and not melted away because oxygen in water is already attached to 2 hydrogen atoms and cannot attach to iron though there are always stray atoms and it is those stray oxygen atoms in water that manage to attach to the iron. Once a good crust of this rust is there fewer stray oxygen atoms can get to an available iron atom to create more rust.
Is black rust stable? Not in the least, it is just oxygen deprived. Also under the grip of a sword or knife, the oxygen will be depleted but oils will be introduced during normal maintenance and rust being porous does indeed act like a sponge and will soak up oil just the same.
Here's a fun thought, if you had a thick enough iron plate and a really thick glass dome that was perfectly sealed to the iron plate and filled with pure oxygen you would eventually have a vacuum inside the glass dome with rust where the iron was. So if you were a jeweler and wanted to create a vacuum to take the air bubbles out of your mold that's one really slow way of doing it but it would work.
Japanese sword tangs aren't usually cleaned, as you say. But I've seen seriously old blades that whilst the "blade" portion is spotless, the nakago (tang) is so corroded that you could likely snap it with a rubber mallet.
Thanks for clearing the misconception. I've wondered about this myself.
@@althesmith Yes its generally frowned upon to mess with the tang or "nakago" in the Japanese sword world. However i think an antique nihonto with a cleaned Nakago will be worth more than one without any at all. I
Camera tip: you can't use auto exposure for videos like this. The camera is exposing for the ground, not the blade. It thinks you're a towel channel not a sword channel.
If you set the exposure one or two stops above the default we will be able to see the blade much better.
OurCognitiveSurplus I was wondering why it was bizarrely pixilated on 480p...
At least he knows where his towel is.
ApanLoon Omg yes
I wish you did a video on restoration the sarawak officer sword from back in the day. That was an amazing recovery.
Matt, your editing skills blow me away. I can't even handle how amazing your edits are.
You might want to look a bit in the background for the video, because the youtube compression ruins the quality and i believe there is some link with the uniformity of the background. But, in the end, it looks as it is filmed by the first phone with camera :(
Yeah I notice it had come out in quite poor quality and I don't know why as it's been done on the same settings as my other videos. Maybe something to do with the towels on the table? Weird.
th-cam.com/video/dJQX0tZsZo4/w-d-xo.html
I believe it is the same issue TotalBiscuit described a while ago.
P.S.: I think it is the texture of the towels, try something flat next time, like an old bed sheet.
it is because of the towels youtube wants to focus on all the dots on the towel tom scott has a video about this.
scholagladiatoria Definitely the towel. It has small and random high frequency details, which requires a lot of bandwith to display, to put it simply. That messes up the quality of moving objects in the video. By the way, Finland we call that abrasive pad a "bear tongue". Some people have had their faces licked by brown bears while playing dead on the ground (or by a tamed bear) and apparently bear tongues are incredibly rough and abrasive.
I have noticed it since the video of the Warwick Castle, including the stuff filmed in the Wallace collection. I was wondering if it's a me problem or if youtube played with their compression.
Well I just bought my first 19th century British military sword and it was not in pristine condition, but it had lots of etching and a detailed provenance so I watched the whole thing, ordered those cleaners I didn't have already and look forward to the arrival of my weapon from the UK. THANKS!
As an American, and Minnesotan, that is still a Brillo Pad. And the reason why we call a lot of stuff Scotch is because a lot of things produced by the Minnesota based 3M Company use Scotch in the brand name. So, what you call Cello Tape is marketed here in the U.S. by the 3M Company as Scotch Tape. Reportedly the reason why this is so is because of the stereotype (at least here in the U.S.) of a Scot as being a skinflint, or miser like Dicken's Scrooge.
David Briggs In France, adhesive tape is usually called "Scotch".
That stereotype exists in Ireland too lol Its probably not true. Probably...
Illinois guy calls it a ScotchBrite pad. Brillo is a steel wool product impregnated with soap.
Brillo pad doesn't exist here in Hawaii. It's either referred to as a Scour(ing) Pad or a Scotch Pad because of the manufacturer.
Colorado here, scouring pad.
I've been looking forward to such a video for a very long time. Thanks Eastons!
About as much foreplay as TH-cam will allow.
The both of you did a great job cleaning that blade; it looked so clean that it looks like that you had just gotten that sword out of the armory of the time. It also was a cool way for you to hang out together.
Nice short video again, thanks Matt! :)
The sexual tension in this video... Matt you and your dirty, dirty sword!
Very cool that you show the process in detail. Thanks a lot.
took a shot for each innuendo... Got treated for alcohol poisoning
Lucy makes Matt spam innuendos, and it makes my whole day.
Seeing it come clean like that was really gratifying.
Several decades back I was told by a Major (ret'd) who'd been involved with "the Queen's music" - of a regimental dinner at some time earlier in his career where their Colonel's lady had had a sizeable celebratory cake made for the occasion. When it became time to cut it, the claret & brandy had been in circulation for some time and some wag suggested that the Colonel's magnificent presentation sword be used to cut the cake. So it was well wiped down and the cake duly cut. The sword was parked beside the scabbard on the table as it had become part of the proceedings and later in the evening some junior lieutenant saw it and thought it safer to re-scabbard the sword. But he too had been at the sauce and failed to notice the soiling of the blade from its passage through the heavy fruit cake. The incident was forgotten until at some point - presumably weeks later - the need arose to wear the sword, the cake-involvement having apparently been overlooked due to reasons not entirely unrelated to... claret and brandy
And - it could not be drawn from the scabbard - it was as if welded in place. It eventually took a visit to an armourer/swordsmith who had to cut the scabbard open to prise free the now-corroded - and accordingly no longer quite so magnificent - blade.
To me, the story's flaw is the junior lieutenant. Who knew that he'd "dunnit"? Would the state of the blade be widely circulated once discovered? Were I the Col, I think I'd have slipped the armourer a few tenners to quietly remedy the damage as best possible and let it rest there...
In movies, when I see a sword freshly bloodied in battle being re sheathed while still bloodied, it reminds me of the Colonel's sword. Blood is corrosive stuff, well guaranteed to rust-up a carbon steel blade in no time flat. Yet in same flick, when the next battle scene is shown, do we see a rusty blade being flourished by the hero?
I despaired when I saw first that scene in (was it the second) LOTR film where Saruman's super nasty uruk hai were being armed with blades we see being multiply-cast in flat moulds. The consulting armourer must SURELY have told Mr P Jackson that it just ain't done that way, but the silly scene persisted...
Bought an identical (non East India Co.) 1821 pattern today from an antiques dealer at a very low price. Love that now i have an ultimate cleaning guide to the exact same weapon!
25:13 *In case you're wondering why Autosol is fine for cleaning swords, but should NOT be used for cleaning kukris.*
Lucy Easton: "So why don't we use Autosol when we clean kukris? Why do I have to use spikey wire wool?"
Matt Easton: "Um..."
Lucy Easton: "Is it just not abrasive enough for-" [unintelligible as Matt talks over her]
Matt Easton: "It's to do- yeah, exactly, it's- so Autosol is not- see that? Look at that!"
Lucy Easton: "That is magnificent."
Damn Matt the videos you make with Lucy always make me laugh, she is a real asset to your channel. Good video. Indian Mutiny perhaps, but sure 1st or 2nd Sikh War, or Conquest of Sindh 1843 or maybe even the Persian War 1856-57.
My favorite video of yours to date.
Yes, definitely do more of this kind of thing. :)
Yeah, there are several kinds of rust.
There is the reddish kind of rust (FeO etc.) witch (probably) catches water vapor, and should be removed.
And there is that black rust (Fe3O4 - magnetit) witch forms a really nice hard and protective patina (like on carbon steel kitchen knifes).
Bevore cleaning a blade you can stick it into boiling water. The heat will transform some of the red rust to magnetit.
Would be interesting to see how you approach cleaning the hilt as it looks so much rustier than the blade was.
Also, we need more of the craziness in the Easton household. I know we got to see the blade buffing, but we want to see what happens when you take care of the hand guard and hilt, too!
i use mothers mag and flitz for small rust and noxon for larger rust , noxon is a bit abbrasive sometimes but works
I'm really liking these restoration videos one thing I think would be nice to see is like right before the end card if you had a close up of the before and after side by side.
....I should Not hear this in the train.... People are looking at me...
Don't care about them ;)
Arthur Herbst ... I did not...
Just don't polish your weapon on the train and you should be alright.
It's a brillo pad in the US too.
You did a magnificent job on the blade of that sword, it looks almost new. Even if you don't do a video on cleaning the guard and scabbard (but I'd interested in seeing a short video showing how you'd go about it, even if you don't show it from start to finish) you really need to make a video showing us the sword after you're finished restoring everything. I'm sure I'm not the only one interested in seeing what that sword will look like once it's all fully restored.
It's a real shame that all of your nicer pieces are out of my price range, every time I see a sword like this on your videos it makes me want to buy it. Sadly, the conversion rate really doesn't work in my favor, but maybe one of these days I'll have the spare cash lying around.
That’s what she said! I thoroughly enjoyed watching Lucy buffing your blade!🤣
She has seen a lot of dirty weapons. :) lol
Exactly what I was thinking. WINKWINKWINKWINKWINKWINK
Something odd with the quality... Pixelization even on the 1080p =( wanna see dirty swords in HD!!!
"Oh just fuse already" ;-) Nice video you all. Keep up the great work!
This video ALWAYS CRACKS ME UP!! It is also very helpful and educational, I have learned so much from your videos THANK YOU Matt. If I may say so with all due respect Lucy is quite lovely and how lucky you are! Also I really enjoyed your video on the Chinese Dao and am looking forward to more Chinese weapons, being just a plain white dude they are very foreign to me. Keep up the great work!
And if you find yourself needing a good home for the Chinese Dao I am here to help 😜. Cheers!
-Casey in Florida
Shiny one indeed, polishing always helps make things better. Friday well spent polishing sharp objects and sipping some port!
if you're cleaning old oil, varnish etc off a blade with intact etching you might want to try using acetone, it is a fairly strong solvent that doesn't affect metals or patina, just be careful not to get it on non metals bits e.g. shagreen, leather, wood, paint etc
I have the same sword in real bad shape :( . What should i do the rust damage is too much
Yes, more Mrs Easton please, both speaking and sparring. Also, can you get a product called Kroil in the UK? If so, you might consider a small bottle for cleaning and freeing things. Great for loosening frozen nuts. My dad always said you only had to sit a can of Kroil in the same room with a rusted nut and it would loosen out of sheer fear.
Wish my HC came up that quickly. Could be a matter of hardness- I recently checked it out again and much of the blade on my Woolley and Deakin HC is sitting around RC55, damned hard for most period blades.
Would appreciate seeing a video of you cleaning a sword with more stubborn patination and pitting. What would you use to clean the surface of the etched portion?
I love ballistol. Not on plated surfaces.
I use ballistol if I'm using or carrying something outdoors .but EEZOX for storage.
I tried RenWax...but for some reason it didn't perform as well as eezox
Matt, have you ever used Evaporust?...its a mild chemical process that takes about 24 hours, is reuseable, non toxic.
The black rust is mill scale or hematite. You can actually convert red rust to mill scale by simmering the blade in water for about 10 minutes. As you know, mill scale is far harder to polish off and is far more stable.
Walter Sorrells a knifemaker here in the US did a great video on that called Caring for Carbon Steel Knives. Its actually an old gunsmithing technique.
If you guys are khukuri Nutter Bunch.then you have to know Simon Hengle of Tora Blades, and my friends at HIMIMP😃
That's a Scotch Brite pad which is made of synthetic fibers, while a Brillo pad is essentially just a form of steel wool that is usually impregnated with a detergent and are only good for one, or two uses before they rust and are thrown away.
Actually the quickest way to clean a sword from rust is to do it like Conan with the Atlantean Sword. You find the nearest ancient rock and you just smash the sword edge against it until the rust crumbles off like friggin' coffee powder. HaHAAAA!
Dream house? It is a castle? Does it have... *masiculations* ?
I like the tastefully unedited style of these videos.
love it. great vid.....
I one hundred percent thought you and Lucy were laying on the floor with towels down. I forgot table tops existed for a little bit.
Monkeysrock HA! I thought that too! Funny how perspective can change depending on how much you can't see.
And Lucy should have her own channel!! =D
Thanks. I got a bit of a problem with a dirty sword, so this information will be of great use.
so cool, i would love to see the scabbard and hilt restored though..
7445 - White pad, called Light Duty Cleansing - (1000) 1200-1500 grit
7448 - Light Grey, called Ultra Fine Hand - (600-800) 800 grit.
6448 - Green, called Light Duty Hand Pad - (600) 600 grit
7447 - Maroon pad, called General Purpose Hand - (320-400) 320 grit
6444 - Brown pad, called Extra Duty Hand - (280-320) 240 grit
7446 - Dark Grey pad, called Blending Pad (180-220) 150 grit
7440 - Tan pad, called Heavy Duty Hand Pad - (120-150) 60 grit
Lots of options for scour pads from scotch bite.The white pads are very delicate .
listed in the 1843 London post office directory page 113 is a Bullmore & Patrick, gold lace manufacturers & embroiderers, 17 Bedford street, Covent garden, I'm guessing this is where the sword was from? They are also listed as a tradesperson to Queen Adelaide in the British Imperial Calendar of the same year. Seems their partnership was dissolved in 1847.
How much you think it worth ?
I'd love to get one of these to pass down as a family heirloom (being a Roby). Seems like there are a lot more of them then I thought there were.
Can confirm scouring pads are called interchangeably brillo or scotchbrite this side of the pond. For some reason more recently though people will most often refer to wire wool type as brillo while the synthetic type is most often referred to as scotchbrite.
And the whole Scotch names that Lucy commented on is a 3M thing more than an American thing. They put scotch in the name of a lot of their products. And then they became genericized terms in the US.
There are other options I know that can help. There are blue scotch pads that are finer. There are sandpapers that can get really fine to a mirror polish. There is also jewelers rouge the green is the one I use on most things. You would put the rouge on something and rub on the surface of the blade.
My grandfather gave me a katana that looked like that. I cleaned it off with warm water and a soft cloth. Then uchigo/rice paper/clove oil and there was only a speck of very light rust under the habaki. It would benefit from a polish, but I’m reluctant to lose any metal off it unless it really needs it. Turned out to be a very fine Amada Sadayoshi.
Matt, look into electrochemical restauration! It could open entirely non-abrasive methods of reverting (surface) rusting.
Interesting video. What about the old oil that's still inside the scabbard, can that be cleaned out so it doesn't get all over the blade again ? I hope to see some Irish swords sometime.
Brasso comes as a liquid here in the States. Used with a brillo pad, it's great for taking light rust off of scabbards.
Honestly if I found an antique sabre in my house I'd probably have it cleaned and keep it. Seems like family heritage if anything else.
Up and down or in a circular motion?
To partially contradict a fellow American below, I've never heard a green scrubby called a Brillo pad. Brillo is the brand name of a pad of rather coarse steel wool impregnated with abrasive scouring powder, which I'm sure you would never use on a sword blade! The most popular seller of the green scrubby is 3M Scotch-Brite Pads.
Cecil Brooks yep, but scotch pads are often called brillo as well, even if incorrectly
Cecil Brooks At my work we use Brillo Pads. So we call them such but I will say from personal life ive pretty much only heard them called Scotch Pads. But theres loads of leahweigh. Like fender and bumper... Ive never said fender without mentioning guitars.
In America, we save the word "brillo" for Brillo brand steel wool pads. Steel wool might be what you call wire ball, but, I'm not sure. Please correct me if I'm wrong. We usually just call the 3M Scotch Brite scouring pad a "scrubbie". Here Brasso, is sold as a liquid polish, I've never seen the Brasso stuff that you have.
This is just a question I have.
This may be completely unrelated, but how are swords used in armored combat (besides going halfswording, I may have a misconception of the main weapon of a armored soldier). Should you even have a sword for armored fighting and are they the main weapon?
Sorry for not providing any "eras" (periods?)
FYI, "Scotch" is a brand family produced by 3M (which used to be "Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing").
We call that a Green scrubbie....brillo pads here are fine steel wool bundles.
Wirewool: I doubt you'll see this comment within these 300+, but if you don't like using wire wool there is a product called 'sanding sponges'. They come in many grits, are rather cheap, and can get in to tight spots. I've finding that a warn one shines up steel pretty well. There is also the trick of gluing or stapling sandpaper to sticks and using nail-files to get into tiny spot.
I'm not an expert on restoring swords, but I finally got my first antique sword for restoring and research, and a lot of my cosplay and construction skills seem to be transferring well. Might have to throw up a quick video so people can laugh at my naivety.
Set compression artefacts to STUN!
Now that was pretty cool, they just showed me an IRON MAIDEN commercial. That's what they called the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Passt, as we say in German.
Cheers, Jess
Matt Easton is the Richard O'Brien of swords.
It's accomplishment to find such a low res camera in 2017.
Hi
LOVE the banter with your wife. The Brillo pad as you refer to it, has an American name. The trade name here is "Scotch Brite" It comes in 3 different grades, that I'm aware of as a machinist. The grades or grits are; Purple or Reddish (very coarse or aggressive), Grey (medium grit), and White (fine grit or grade). There might be a Green in there too? It really depends on who the manufacturer is? The TRUE Scotch Brite comes in those 3 colors or grade/grits. I tend to soak in Vinegar for gentle cleaning. It removes discoloration pretty nicely, as well as minor "Lacquering" from solidified oils. I hope this in some way helps with our cheeky American use of the English language?
Cheers:
Stoney
Hello!! Not sure if you watch comments, but I have a question..
A knife store recommended me Barkeepers Friend (t's a mild acid (oxalic acid) and a mild abrasive. You don't have to wear gloves when using it...) to remove rust from a sword I have (Brittish King George V Era Sword).... but after seeing your video, I am doubting if I should use that or not, and can't find any info, really.
Here where am, I can only find a different kind of Brasso (I am not sure it's the same, it's now a yellow bottle), and doesnt seem easy to find ballistol.
Do you have another reccommendation? Thank you!!!
scotschbright we would call the green grinding fleece in austria
I believe you are right, that americans call them Scotch pads. Canadians call them green scrubbies.
I do have a follow up question though.
Do you still have DiDi 7 available in the UK? and if you do why not use that? conversely (if its no longer available), why is it not sold anymore?
Glad I wasn't taking a sip when Mrs. Easton said, "We could frame them for a crime!" or else it would have ended up all over my monitor.
That PewDiePie joke was absolutely top notch.
Brillo pad is a dish scour.
Brasso here in Australia is a liquid. We also have one for Silver.
Matt, i would love if you could re-upload this video when you have been able to fix the pixelation problem. It's really a fascinating video but it's so hard to watch in this technical state.
I have this same style and make of sword. It came without a scabbard. Been looking online for scabbards but most seem to be for the later 1888 models. What is the length of your sword blade and scabbard?
there are a couple UK dealers that do "extreme buffing" and they call it 3 weeks in their conservation workshop. I'm sure that will ring a bell.
Yes...
I got a REALLY bad one a few months ago, The "treacle" oil was caked on so damn bad I got flashbacks to restoring guns stored in cosmoline, except i couldnt soak the parts because i no longer had my tub for mineral baths, I ended up eventually getting it off with mineral spirit scrubbing across several days, and discovered, ironically, that the sword was pitted all to hell.
Lucy should have her own channel :P
Good video.thanks
For that old oil residue, brake cleaner would work great and require little to no rubbing (hate to spoil your fun, lol). Matt, have you considered or tried that in the past? If so, was there a reason you decided not to go with that option? On a side note, for non-abrasive rust removal, I have seen an over night soak in good old Coca Cola work miracles on rusty car parts. It might be worth a try on rusty swords.
It would be nice if we could see Lucy more often!
Bought my first sword and it is almost exactly this model, the guard and blade are the same.
It was very dirty and I cleaned it with WD40 and paper towels, I had to take some time because of rust.
It was the right procedure??
I mean after I saw someone saying not to use paper towels.
We have a 1840 "wrist breaker" But there's calligraphy on the hilt and pomel that I've never found on any other sort online it contains the 13 stars for the original colonies and an American shield with a bow underneath. Any ideas?
Brillo Pads are the main brand of scouring pads in the UK, I think the most common name in the US is Scotch-Brite.
Looked like Packing Grease when you brought the sword out. Probably not a bad idea if you’re going to store it for a long time
What a great double act!
This video is soo good, you two are so good! But the quality is killing me. I cannot see anything. Is it s bad codec maybe? Bad video editing settings? A problem with the render? Or maybe TH-cam fucked it up, would not be suprised at all.
The US Military calls those green scrub pads "greenie weenies"
7:29 SCOURING PAD, that green thing is called a scouring pad you use it to scour or shine surfaces