Henry Wilkinson sword

Jewelry Discussion
1

A customer of mine brought this sword to me to see if I could restore
the blade, it is pitted with black patches that have been left from
rust that has been wire brushed away. The sword is a genuine Henry
Wilkinson Sword as far as I can see, is there some way of acid
washing it with the right acids to remove the blackness from the
pitted areas without removing some of the fine engraving that is on
the blade and to bright polish it.

Clive Ridley

2 
A customer of mine brought this sword to me to see if I could
restore the blade, it is pitted with black patches that have been
left from rust that has been wire brushed away. The sword is a
genuine Henry Wilkinson Sword as far as I can see, is there some
way of acid washing it with the right acids to remove the blackness
from the pitted areas without removing some of the fine engraving
that is on the blade and to bright polish it.

Ouch, restoring a sword is no mean feat, and one with engraving will
be almost impossible. There’s always the fear that you will do
irreparable damage (and you can if you don’t know what you are
doing). I’ve restored 16th century Japanese blades, but I own them,
I’m too paranoid about taking on this work for others.

A pitted blade will never be the same, the best you can do is put
the blade in a strong alkali solution, even then it may do no good.

If you still want to proceed contact a major museum. I find the
British Museum, and The Armouries at Leeds very helpful with these
matters.

Regards Charles A.

3

Ouch, restoring a sword is no mean feat, and one with engraving will
be almost impossible. There’s always the fear that you will do
irreparable damage (and you can if you don’t know what you are
doing). I’ve restored 16th century Japanese blades, but I own them,
I’m too paranoid about taking on this work for others.

A pitted blade will never be the same, the best you can do is put
the blade in a strong alkali solution, even then it may do no good.

If you still want to proceed contact a major museum. I find the
British Museum, and The Armouries at Leeds very helpful with these
matters.

Regards Charles A.