MY 150 YEAR OLD SWORD

[aadhaulya]

Now after guns I have decided to revive my age old passion for Blades. I pulled out some old swords and knives to clean them up,
Thanks to the topic regarding bluing and encouraged by TC, Dr. JK and Brihaji I decided to brush up my inherited 150 year old sword. it was just a piece of badly rusted metal but seems light weight and well balanced.
As per the suggestion of @TC I did not use any grinding machine but tried to clean it up manually. Worked for about 1.5 to 2 months to clean out the rust consuming I large can of WD 40 and wearing out emery paper starting with grit 100, 220, 320, 400 and finally 600. Now I am very tired and the results are as follows.

SUGGESTION REQUIRED: Do I clean and polish it further or do I blue the Hilt or the full sword? My idea was to blue the hilt and hilt guard and do a brush on job of gold plating on the hilt top and polish the blade to a mirror finish (but I may loose out on patience and give up the project. Also I have still not been able to source the 'Brush on Gold Plating Solution' in India).

I would really appreciate the members personal suggestions on what would be practical and reasonably good looking.

The sword



The Hilt



Hilt Top



Hilt Guard

[kshitij]

Fine looking sword. I would suggest some other kind of surface finish for the hilt. If you are located somewhere in or around mumbai i can share details of guys who will do a brilliant antique copper or brass, gold and silver amongst other kind of surface finishes. Worth atleast giving them a vist before you blue that hilt.

[dsingh]

It is precious and looks like smaller version of tegha or rajput /sikh sword it may be atleast CLOSE TO 2 KG .it has very powerful slashing power.Nowadays it is rare collection.U r Lucky to have this possession.

[aadhaulya]

Fine looking sword. I would suggest some other kind of surface finish for the hilt. If you are located somewhere in or around mumbai i can share details of guys who will do a brilliant antique copper or brass, gold and silver amongst other kind of surface finishes. Worth atleast giving them a vist before you blue that hilt.

kshitij, I live in the Delhi NCR. I tried to get one small sword stick chrome plated but here no body wants to touch any sharp edged weapon. Most of these guys have arrangements for sand blasting and that would have saved me a lot of trouble in trying to rub off the rust and would have got a much better finish.
The only solution I see is doing it up myself. For that I will go through YouTube to learn the various processes and the most difficult part is that I have not been able to find a source of these chemicals (who would supply small quantities).
Now as per your suggestion I would try out the other finishes as well.

It is precious and looks like smaller version of tegha or rajput /sikh sword it may be atleast CLOSE TO 2 KG .it has very powerful slashing power.Nowadays it is rare collection.U r Lucky to have this possession.

@ dsingh, I have not weighed the sword but it seems less than 2 Kgs. It should be closer to about 1 or 1.5 Kgs.
Also it seems to be a well used sword in its time.

Regards


Regards

[kalashnikovcult]

Just beautiful...adorable ..We worship and even have a respected title we call the Talwar as " Sri Sahib " or " Aad Bhavani"

[aadhaulya]

Dear kalashnikovcult,

Thanks for the information.
Further I would like to add that my Granddad was from Mainpuri/ Itawa (Utter Pradesh). And it was bought 150 years ago from the same place or definitely from some where in UP.
Also he would probable would not have bought it as a collector piece but something for self defense. He also owned a DBBL shot gun (British I believe) though there is no trace of it now.
Maybe this would help in identifying it further.

Regards

[kalashnikovcult]

Wonderful, need to find more information on the hilt since this style i havent seen much and it looks heavy..very well made.

Dear kalashnikovcult,

Thanks for the information.
Further I would like to add that my Granddad was from Mainpuri/ Itawa (Utter Pradesh). And it was bought 150 years ago from the same place or definitely from some where in UP.
Also he would probable would not have bought it as a collector piece but something for self defense. He also owned a DBBL shot gun (British I believe) though there is no trace of it now.
Maybe this would help in identifying it further.

Regards

[aadhaulya]

Dear kalashnikovcult,

Thanks for the effort of going through the process of identifying the sword. In the absence of any suggestions I have decided to blue the hilt and run through about 4 coats of the bluing process.
After that I plan to make a sheath for the sword in ply wood or sun mica sheet, then cover it with a hand stitched black leather (if my local cobbler can do it).
Lets see how it turns out.... or I start all over again.

Regards

[kalashnikovcult]

thats great ! keep updating us with the steps you follow..and i have friends who are collectors of antique swords since generations so can even get tips from them.

[caracass77]

Beautiful sword. By the look of the handle, it seems like it was not made for very large hands? It is beautiful and looks like a a very well-made, a very swift weapon, definitely meant to cause a lot of hurt. Definitely a Rajasthani or a Sikh sword?

[aadhaulya]

Beautiful sword. By the look of the handle, it seems like it was not made for very large hands? It is beautiful and looks like a a very well-made, a very swift weapon, definitely meant to cause a lot of hurt. Definitely a Rajasthani or a Sikh sword?

Dear caracass77,

I checked the sword today, you are right the hilt is small and a tight fit in my hand. I never paid attention to that point till now.

Regards

[harshit89]

I would suggest you to polish the hilt and clean the blade with some lubricant.
The lubricant make the blade look new and shiny.

[aadhaulya]

Dear harshit,

I have blued the hilt and polished the blade to the best of my ability and patience, though it is still not perfect and shiny like new steel. But now I have found some brush on Gold and Silver plating chemicals on the internet.
Now I am thinking of removing the bluing and try the gold and silver plating on the hilt. Have to consider the end result before attempting that.

Regards

[harshit89]

Dear harshit,

I have blued the hilt and polished the blade to the best of my ability and patience, though it is still not perfect and shiny like new steel. But now I have found some brush on Gold and Silver plating chemicals on the internet.
Now I am thinking of removing the bluing and try the gold and silver plating on the hilt. Have to consider the end result before attempting that.

Regards

If you really want to remove the blued hilt, you can apply some bronze polish to it which will give a touch of medieval to it.
And to make your sword blade shiny through the edges, you can use the best knife sharpeners to do so.

[aadhaulya]

If you really want to remove the blued hilt, you can apply some bronze polish to it which will give a touch of medieval to it.
And to make your sword blade shiny through the edges, you can use the best knife sharpeners to do so.

This seems like a good idea. Will try that also.

Regards