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I have tried to take the mirror polish off my gladius, with no luck so far. I tried vinegar, and steel wool. Have not yet tried scotch brite scouring pads. Any other suggestions?
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Rust: Wrap blade in wool soaked with salt water. Check every 5 days or so.
Unless you unknowingly have a stainless steel blade. Then I suppose you would have to use fine grit sandpaper to dull the finish.
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For the mirror polish, you have to use a polishing compound.
First you have to take off all the marks of files with sand paper. First of a high grade then medium, then fine.
When you have a smooth surface, then it's turn to get the mirror look. Buy some polish compound, and use with a polishing pad with the help of a drill machine.
First, you have to use a "prepolish compound", more abrasive that remove the scratches left by sandpapers. Then, use another polish compound more fine (generally red called Tripoli) that gives the metal that mirror look. Don't use the same polishing pad with both pastes or compounds. Each have to had an pad.
If some paste remains when you have finished, you can get off that with alcohol, benzin, etc.
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Oh! Sorry! :oops:
It's to TAKE OFF the finish... Then you have to use a fine sand paper, or better the scoth brite pad.
If use the fine sand paper (800?), dont' make so much presure.
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Try PUMICE the Roman Empires scouring Pad and sandpaper!
PS; This thread should maybe be in the Re-Enactment & Reconstruction
section rather than the marketplace as it is more of a how to rather than I want to buy something.
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Quote:Try PUMICE the Roman Empires scouring Pad and sandpaper!
Is there evidence for that or is it just an assumption?
Sulla Felix
AKA Barry Coomber
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Pumice well known to the Romans and used in Lightweight concrete and
for scouring the skin in the Baths. Also used for smoothing papyrus “rolls of papyrus smoothed with pumice and anointed with cedar oil, with projecting knobs of ivory and ebony, wrapped in purple covers, with scarlet strings and labelsâ€
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Thanks John - It seems quite logical but I just wondered if it was "known" by reference to ancient sources or evidence. A lot of "factoids" out there :?
Sulla Felix
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Thread moved to re-enactment and reconstruction 
Aitor
It\'s all an accident, an accident of hands. Mine, others, all without mind, from one extreme to another, but neither works nor will ever.
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I would use 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper. It has worked fine for me in the past and shouldn't scratch the blade bad if you use light pressure. Just make sure you sand hilt to tip in one direction and keep it wet. That is the way albion finishes their blades for a satin type finish. Then you could use scotch brite to make it smoother if you don't like the way it looks. That is the grit I used to finish a bronze cuirass I made.
"A wise man learns from his mistakes, but the truly wise man learns from the mistakes of others."
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Some of the blades coming out of India, Pakistan etc are actually chrome plated. I ground the finish off one of these for a friend awhile back with my belt sander.
Another alternative to darken, or age the blade is cheap yellow mustard. It will cling to the blade much better than vinegar. Coat the blade and let it sit for a few days. Remove with warm water, and then polish with 000 steel wool.
"...quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est."
a.k.a. Paul M.
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Is there any quick and sure way to determine if a blade has been chrome plated. Just the shiny finish doesn't tell the tale, or does it?
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I seem to remember that the finish is created by oil? In other words if you get the blade red hot and it has the right oil on it, it comes out dark... any blacksmiths? I could be having a cranial flatulent moment.
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You can blue a blade with oil. Heat it, dip it. The smoke is horrendous, mind you!! If you heat iron in a forge, it oxidizes and comes out "forge blackened". OK to leave a spearhead that way, cause you would not waste much time on the finish other then sharpening the edges and tip, but all blades were ground and the end product is "shiny". The question is, HOW shiny. Polishing the blade with modern techniques will create an unrealistic mirror finish, chrome-plating even more so. The difference should be telling, but I do not have a quick test and would like one. Is there a scratch test one can do to tell the difference between chrome-plated and highly polished?
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I hope its not chrome plated. Ill try them all I guess. The pummice, the scotch brite, both types of sand paper, and may even the mustard! Thanks all
PS thanks for moving the thread Aitor, my bad... :oops:
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