Can I get any info on this sword?

[Antny]

Does anyone know what kind of sword this is and should I try to clean it?
Thanks!

 

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[stevemc]

Looks like an old one! Looks like the blade is iron, could be rusted away, but it seems like it is there. Very nice rare find. I dont know about cleaning it, I am sure it is fragile. Reverse electrolysis would most likely be the best way, but I would like to hear from someone who has worked with something like this. I havent. But that is what I would do. Was there a port or a shipwreck associated with this find? That might help date it and figure out what country it was from.

 

[signumops]

Carumba!

 

[Antny]

Thanks stevemc, the blade is very fragile. Looks like iron. It broke just removing it & bringing it up. No port to speak of. I imagine I can just leave it as is or should I somehow neutralize it?
Ant.

 

[trinidad]

Ask some expert. It´s probably a "multicomposite" item: wood, iron and bronze. And what is good for iron can be bad to wood and so on. For eletrolisys for iron you usually uses caustic soda but to bronze it´s better sesquicarbonate. You can find examples of similar restored items at some museums web pages. There you can find the right way to conserve your sword. And do it fast or you can get just a handle and few grams of corrosion dust. Good luck.

 

[stevemc]

Soak it in freshwater to keep it from corroding since the blade is iron. Bronze wont need much conserving, the handle, I dont know what it is. Keep it all in freshwater, and occasionally change out the water, so you get rid of the salt. Do that until you figure out what to do. As for reverse electrolysis, I wouldnt use caustic soda on anything, use sodium carbonate. Washing soda in the clothes washing area of the supermarket. If you cant find any, bake regular baking soda, sodium bicarbonate in an oven on a cookie pan for 1 hour at 350 degrees. It will turn into sodium carbonate. That is not damaging to you or the thing that you are trying to conserve. And use just enough voltage and current to just barely getting a slight fizz, just a slight overall fizz, next to nothing, too much and it will all dissolve. You just want to get rid of the salts, and hopefully loosen the coralline and rust.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Very nice and it does look very old and possibly French or Spanish.
I would set up an electrolysis bath using 10% citric acid (available from wine making supplier) and water or just lemon juice and water as this shouldn't have a bad effect on the bronze and should still stabilize the iron in the blade. Make sure you have a good contact between the metal of the blade and the positive wire of your transformer (use a small wall transformer rather then a batter charger), use a piece of scrap stainless steal for an anode. I would give it at least 3-4 weeks of this and when you take it out of the bath keep an eye on it for a few weeks to see if the blade begins to rust and if it does repeat the process.
You also want to keep an eye on it when it's in the bath, it should have small bubbles coming from it and not your anode. If the anode is bubbling then change the wires around. If you feel something is wrong then remove it from the bath and rinse it off followed by submerging it in a tub of water until a better method is found.
If you can save the blade or what's left of it, it would be worth it. Truly a nice find, would love to hear more about where it was found. Was it from a wreck or just a lucky find?
Good luck with the conservation. Please post a pic of the finished product.
ZDD

 

[littleneckhalfshell]

any info on the age of the wreck it was found on, or where it was found? I too would like to know more about it's age

 

[cuzcosquirrel]

It looks like a German hunting sword, with the clamshell guard.

The hilt pommel cap makes me think that it is a cutlass or hanger from about 1750 to 1820. The hand guard loop also fits into that area of time. Go over to Old Dominion Forge and look at some examples they have from the revolutionalry period.

 

[Antny]

Thanks cuzcosquirrel,
I'll check there.

 

[wwwtimmcp]

the clamshell looks like just an adornment rather than a guard. the british had "court swords" with these from 1730-1840 . I see a german sword with the guard and the british court swords in
a collectors guide to swords,daggers,and cutlasses by gerald welan.

hope this helps

 

[Antny]

Thanks for the info so far. Here is a pic of the other side. It had come loose from the rest of the sword. The clam shell does look like it is just an adornment.

 

[culverin]

it looks like the cutlass s that are illustrated in old prints of the Buccaneers. check out the drawing of Francis Lolonois in variouse pirate books. I believe the original print came from Esquelming's book. I am looking ast a book tittled "the real story of the pirate" by A. Hyatt verrill. in it he describes the weapons favored by the Buccaneers. part of that exerpt reads "but from old prints made in the days of the Buccaneers it is evident that these weapons of the freebooters were distinctive, they were extremely heavily bladed, scimitar like swords with a guard like an inverted scallop shell, and often had a crossbar and saberlike guard in addition. these scallopguarded cutlasses were apperently typical of the Buccaneers and used exclusivly by them, for they are never shown in the possesion of any of the Spaniards or the soldiers or sailors of other nations. possibly they were made especially for the sea rovers, but more than likely were manufactured by Buccaneer armorers in Tortuga and Jamaica." looks like you found an authentic Buccaneer cutlass!

 

[Philvis]

My advice is to go ahead and package it up and mail it to Spain, because if they hear about it, I'm sure they will want it back! Be proactive about it! haha!