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Post by aronk on Jan 29, 2015 18:36:11 GMT
The sabre I purchased from eBay is here, and it looks even better than it did in the photos, though the scabbard is a bit rougher than it appeared to be. I'll post photos this evening. I plan to do a bit of work to restore it, starting with some light cleaning of the brass and the scabbard. I'll post photos as the restoration progresses. The leather on the grips has some very minor damage, and I'll post photos illustrating that later, but does anyone have advice for dealing with that sort of thing?
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Post by Dave Kelly on Jan 29, 2015 22:09:08 GMT
See the photos first, but I can recommend a user friendly polyacrylic kit that you can use to patch spots and comes witha black dye.
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Post by aronk on Jan 30, 2015 2:19:12 GMT
Okay, so first of all, here is the seller's photo gallery. Much better lighting than I was able to achieve in my dining room. I spent about three hours with Brasso and light brillo pads to remove the thick layer of tarnish covering the hilt. It's a bit shinier than I would prefer for an antique, but that will correct itself with time. The leather was treated with an antique leather preserver I got from a friend who works for the British museum. The blade was given a working over with Ballistol. The scabbard has some nasty surface rust and will need more work. For now, it has a thick layer of oil on it to prevent further corrosion. Hilt is rock solid, blade is still sharp enough for cutting. The balance is excellent for a cavalry sabre, a joy to handle in comparison to anything made by the Indian companies. I think I'm in love!
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Post by aronk on Jan 30, 2015 2:22:41 GMT
The leather is very stable, by the way, not loose even in the slightest.
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Post by Dave Kelly on Jan 30, 2015 6:47:37 GMT
"The balance is excellent for a cavalry sabre..." I BEG your pardon, pilgrim. >:D
You get your first REAL sword and judge the FR1822 as an exception to the universe of pukey cavalry sabres??
Trust me, there are lots of fine handling cavalry sabres; just not a lot of fine handling repros.
(Watch your wallet; this is like heroin...)
Cleaned up purtee too...
As to leather touch ups; Leather World Technologies makes good stuff. Is a bit pricey, but all you need is some water based filler and some dye to color. easy to work with and you can file it shape it before you paint it.
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Post by Lukas MG (chenessfan) on Jan 30, 2015 15:26:04 GMT
The 1822 is a wonderful saber, absolutely love mine :) Good catch. And as Dave says, the handling is excellent, no matter by what standard.
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Post by William Swiger on Jan 30, 2015 16:30:29 GMT
I also have a couple of the French 1822 sabers and they handle well for their type and look very good.
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Post by William Swiger on Jan 30, 2015 17:20:29 GMT
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Post by Lukas MG (chenessfan) on Jan 30, 2015 17:30:56 GMT
Yeah, that's very good information, thanks for posting.
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Post by Lukas MG (chenessfan) on Jan 30, 2015 17:43:42 GMT
Since we're talking about it: does anyone have an idea where I could get a fitting scabbard for my 1822? Original would be nice of course but a fitting repro would be fine, too.
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Post by aronk on Jan 30, 2015 17:57:01 GMT
Since we're talking about it: does anyone have an idea where I could get a fitting scabbard for my 1822? Original would be nice of course but a fitting repro would be fine, too. You might be able to make a US Ames sabre scabbard fit.
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Post by aronk on Jan 30, 2015 17:59:41 GMT
"The balance is excellent for a cavalry sabre..." I BEG your pardon, pilgrim. You get your first REAL sword and judge the FR1822 as an exception to the universe of pukey cavalry sabres?? Trust me, there are lots of fine handling cavalry sabres; just not a lot of fine handling repros. (Watch your wallet; this is like heroin...) Cleaned up purtee too... As to leather touch ups; Leather World Technologies makes good stuff. Is a bit pricey, but all you need is some water based filler and some dye to color. easy to work with and you can file it shape it before you paint it. Thanks Dave! And this is my second real sword, by the way. The first is a WWI NCO sabre. Handles beautifully, but the wire on the grip isn't in the best of shape. It's an heirloom battlefield pickup though, so I can't complain.
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Post by William Swiger on Jan 30, 2015 18:02:21 GMT
Since we're talking about it: does anyone have an idea where I could get a fitting scabbard for my 1822? Original would be nice of course but a fitting repro would be fine, too. I think I have a few spare reproduction scabbards in the storage room. Heck maybe an original.
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Post by Lukas MG (chenessfan) on Jan 30, 2015 18:43:32 GMT
Since we're talking about it: does anyone have an idea where I could get a fitting scabbard for my 1822? Original would be nice of course but a fitting repro would be fine, too. I think I have a few spare reproduction scabbards in the storage room. Heck maybe an original. Well, I think I'll take you up on that offer... ;)
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Post by aronk on Jan 30, 2015 19:08:46 GMT
I may need to take you up on that as well. Mine is going to need some serious work, and it has a bit of a sticky/stiff draw. Which reminds me, does anyone have any advice for remedying that?
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Post by Lukas MG (chenessfan) on Jan 30, 2015 19:15:09 GMT
Does oiling the blade make the draw a bit easier? Do you know if there's any kind of gunk in there? I'd feel around in the scabbard with a bent open coat hanger or something similar, see if anything comes up.
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Post by Dave Kelly on Jan 30, 2015 21:24:08 GMT
Concur. Pour half a cup of light oil down there and let it sit for a few hours. ( You can save the oil when your finished if you have a fine sieve...whatever ) If you have a rifle cleaning rod with a reaming tool that would be perfect; but coat hanger will do in a pinch. Before you probe tip upside down and rap the throat piece on a hard surface to see if it disldges anything. Than work the probe around to see if that helps. Repeat process until baby burps...
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Post by aronk on Jan 31, 2015 2:11:24 GMT
Oiling does make it quite a bit easier. I'll try use Dave's oil and cleaning rod technique and report on the results.
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Uhlan
Member
Posts: 3,121
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Post by Uhlan on Jan 31, 2015 22:09:38 GMT
Scuff marks on the blade may indicate where the trouble is. Wooden liners could be shot, but mine had trouble with a too tight mouth piece. The springsteel flaps were too tight. Problem with French scabbards is that you cannot remove the mouthpiece. Germans did a better job.
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Post by aronk on Feb 1, 2015 1:58:36 GMT
Scuff marks on the blade may indicate where the trouble is. Wooden liners could be shot, but mine had trouble with a too tight mouth piece. The springsteel flaps were too tight. Problem with French scabbards is that you cannot remove the mouthpiece. Germans did a better job. I looked down in there with a penlight, and my best guess is that the springsteel flaps are too tight as in your case. No scuffs on the blade that I can see though. The oiling helped quite a bit though. I think I'll keep it out of the scabbard when on display though.
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