Chinese Sword Maintenance and Care in Traditional Method
Nov 18, 2012 12:59:20 GMT
Post by MakChingYuen on Nov 18, 2012 12:59:20 GMT
The way people used to learn how to care for a sword is either mostly in the Japanese way or the western way (with super fast shop method like alcohol and lube with oil, cut-the-crap is the key point! :mrgreen: ).. here let me share a traditional CHINESE way which is different.
Traditionally, and this is not a secret too, people who treated a forged (hammered) sward or blade with care for the first or first two years because of one reason and only that reason -- to preserve the blade and make it rust resistant for a much longer time in the coming future.
There are ancient swords that people dug up from the graves which stay rust-free for a long time and the edge is still sharp and free of rust. Why so? Here is what they do. A lot of Chinese articles talked about this but I did not see any English version, so this might be something interesting..
0. Bow.. (LOL!!! CUT THAT CRAP! NO BOWING PLEASE!)
1. Rub off oil with a cloth, and use rubbing alcohol if you like, yeah, all oil must be gone totally.
2. Rub the sword with the cloth again with a cloth until it's kinda heated mildly, and this process can be done by using a block of wood to wrap a cloth/leather around and rub the blade with care. I am doing it the fast way in the video, usually you rub for about 10-15mins to get the blade ready.
3. Apply flour to the blade and rub again for 5mins or so. This process is to use flour to polish the blade up and also people say it have some chemical reaction done to the blade itself which I don't know how to explain. Anyway, I find this step very good for helping to remove more oil and polish the nice mirror polish to a cleaner surface, work like a charm. (no fancy crap, it's really working!)
4. Wipe off everything and make sure no flour is there.
5. re-oil the blade by applying a THIN coat of oil to the blade. I suggest boiled linseed if you don't mind the spell, this thing work like a charm but remember to apply a super ultra-thin coat only, wipe the excess off. Or if you got hoppe #9 gun oil you can use that too. No need for any fancy choji oil here. The main point is rust-resistant, that's all.
6. Clean your scabbard from dust and if it is wood, use some oil (orange oil, etc,.. whatever works) with a cloth and oil the wood. I find orange oil work great for these. Sword back to scabbard and complete.
Warning: DON'T GO CRAZY WIPING AND CUT YOURSELF.
The "masters" say that you should do this everyday for about 1 year for a new forged sword and 2nd year you just do it once per week and 3rd year you do it once a month and then the sword shall be pretty rust-proof in the future and not much care is needed.
In the Chinese saying there is phrase that say "10 years to rub a sword" which is referring to this step. You rub and rub and rub the sword for days and days.. just to get the sword polished up and some dots and patterns will show up on the blade, making the blade giving off some greenish and bluish color when shine under sunlight. Normal swords shine off white only and not green to bluish color. This color of green and bluish is what people refer to "Jian Chi" the chi of sword. It's not any magical or powerful thing, it's a beautiful thing actually, like saying the sword is pretty. Usually this is only there for extra-good-forged-treasure-swords. (Bao Jian) that people paid a fortune to have it made.
Honestly, I did not try this for a year yet but I have been doing this for a few times since I got the jade lion sword awhile back and the sword Is getting some changes that I noticed..such as the scabbard is greener and shinier, the blade is smoother and cut better and also seems to give off a layer of faint bluish light when light is shine on it.. hard to see, but there is the layer that is there.. and that's what I experienced.
Here is a demo of the method I do. Usually it's a good idea to do a few swords at once.
Key point - NO BOWING, NO CRAP, ONLY PRACTICAL STUFF IS NEEDED. Chinese HATE those crappy silly fancy movements, look at how Chinese cook their food and you know, they don't put colorful chips on the dish, no fancy colorful veggies, everything is brown and white and mono-tone like most of the time. It's ugly when you put it on a table, but it's tasty inside when you eat it! That's Chinese-style of sword care too. Nothing is there just for show.
Enjoy!
Traditionally, and this is not a secret too, people who treated a forged (hammered) sward or blade with care for the first or first two years because of one reason and only that reason -- to preserve the blade and make it rust resistant for a much longer time in the coming future.
There are ancient swords that people dug up from the graves which stay rust-free for a long time and the edge is still sharp and free of rust. Why so? Here is what they do. A lot of Chinese articles talked about this but I did not see any English version, so this might be something interesting..
0. Bow.. (LOL!!! CUT THAT CRAP! NO BOWING PLEASE!)
1. Rub off oil with a cloth, and use rubbing alcohol if you like, yeah, all oil must be gone totally.
2. Rub the sword with the cloth again with a cloth until it's kinda heated mildly, and this process can be done by using a block of wood to wrap a cloth/leather around and rub the blade with care. I am doing it the fast way in the video, usually you rub for about 10-15mins to get the blade ready.
3. Apply flour to the blade and rub again for 5mins or so. This process is to use flour to polish the blade up and also people say it have some chemical reaction done to the blade itself which I don't know how to explain. Anyway, I find this step very good for helping to remove more oil and polish the nice mirror polish to a cleaner surface, work like a charm. (no fancy crap, it's really working!)
4. Wipe off everything and make sure no flour is there.
5. re-oil the blade by applying a THIN coat of oil to the blade. I suggest boiled linseed if you don't mind the spell, this thing work like a charm but remember to apply a super ultra-thin coat only, wipe the excess off. Or if you got hoppe #9 gun oil you can use that too. No need for any fancy choji oil here. The main point is rust-resistant, that's all.
6. Clean your scabbard from dust and if it is wood, use some oil (orange oil, etc,.. whatever works) with a cloth and oil the wood. I find orange oil work great for these. Sword back to scabbard and complete.
Warning: DON'T GO CRAZY WIPING AND CUT YOURSELF.
The "masters" say that you should do this everyday for about 1 year for a new forged sword and 2nd year you just do it once per week and 3rd year you do it once a month and then the sword shall be pretty rust-proof in the future and not much care is needed.
In the Chinese saying there is phrase that say "10 years to rub a sword" which is referring to this step. You rub and rub and rub the sword for days and days.. just to get the sword polished up and some dots and patterns will show up on the blade, making the blade giving off some greenish and bluish color when shine under sunlight. Normal swords shine off white only and not green to bluish color. This color of green and bluish is what people refer to "Jian Chi" the chi of sword. It's not any magical or powerful thing, it's a beautiful thing actually, like saying the sword is pretty. Usually this is only there for extra-good-forged-treasure-swords. (Bao Jian) that people paid a fortune to have it made.
Honestly, I did not try this for a year yet but I have been doing this for a few times since I got the jade lion sword awhile back and the sword Is getting some changes that I noticed..such as the scabbard is greener and shinier, the blade is smoother and cut better and also seems to give off a layer of faint bluish light when light is shine on it.. hard to see, but there is the layer that is there.. and that's what I experienced.
Here is a demo of the method I do. Usually it's a good idea to do a few swords at once.
Key point - NO BOWING, NO CRAP, ONLY PRACTICAL STUFF IS NEEDED. Chinese HATE those crappy silly fancy movements, look at how Chinese cook their food and you know, they don't put colorful chips on the dish, no fancy colorful veggies, everything is brown and white and mono-tone like most of the time. It's ugly when you put it on a table, but it's tasty inside when you eat it! That's Chinese-style of sword care too. Nothing is there just for show.
Enjoy!
My way is the same but it require a step more which is the rubbing with flour and you rub for a longer time. That's all.
? 
