Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Jun 11, 2016 15:46:53 GMT
The following information I gleaned from BlankWaffen.de: " EXPERIMENTAL SABRE FOR THE PRUSSIAN LIGHT CAVALRY '' Mid 19th Century the Prussian Cavalry was still equipped with the so called "Blucher-sabre" P. 1811. It had a simple stirrup hilt, which offered little protection for the hand, when used in combat. Some attempts were made to improve it by screwing on some bars, but it did not work. After a battle in July 1848 with Danish Dragoons a Prussian trooper complained in a letter about his sabre. Three of his comrades had had their fingers cut and knuckles wounded in the battle due to lack of proper hand protection. Much to the envy of their opponents Danish troopers carried a basket hiked sabre (P. 1843), which proved very successful. Due to several complaints about cavalry sabres the Prussian War Department decided to carry out certain trials with a new type of sabre, which resembled the Blucher with the extra bars, but was a completely new design. Until recently this sabre was unknown to German collectors and historians. The unidentified specimen shown here was found in a Danish collection. The crowned FW immediately pointed in the direction of Prussia (Frederick Wilhelm IV, 1840-61) and it has now been established that this type of sabre was issued to a whole regiment of Prussian Hussars probably as early as 1848. One would have found it obvious to try these sabres in real combat, e.g. against the Danes during the Schleswig-Holstein uprising in 1848-49-50. This may also have happened and thus explains the presence of the sabre here in Denmark. Again the trials were not successful enough to convince the War Department. However, it most likely led to the design of the well known Prussian Light Cavalry Sabre P. 1852. Eventually the batch of experimental sabres was abolished and sold to England, who made fine use of them in the Crimean War (1853-56). Thanks are due to Mr. Rolf Selzer and Mr. Peter Meihs, Germany, for information included in this article. This jolly lady, Herzogin Victoria Luise von Braunschweig und Luneburg, was the darling of the Leib Garde Husaren. The regiment was very much hers and she loved to trot around clad in their garb. She was Wilhelm's daughter. Since more information on this forgotten and very interesting sabre is to be found on www.militaria-web.de/I will translate the text by Claus P. Stefanski und Peter Heusche, by running it through Google Translate. I found this text also via BlankWaffen.de: www.deutsches-blankwaffenforum.de/index.php?s=f29d9b2ab2989ff6dc549e93a5404b18 , THE go to site for any information regarding German edged weapons. Here is the Google translate link: translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.militaria-web.de%2Fsaebel-gh%2Fsaebel-gh.html%3Freload_coolmenus&edit-text=&act=urlI really do hope you will take the time to read the above article. It clears a lot of rubbish about this sabre. Zeitenhusaren estimates that there were no more than 800 sabres of this model ever made and to top that off, no German museums have this type in stock. My sabre is of the first generation made by Schnitzler und Kirschbaum. The second generation was made by Weyersberg and has only one real difference. There is a metal fingerloop attachment ring incorporated onto the ferrule. The Weyersberg with the loop ring on the ferrule. It lost the scabbard, but in this case I cannot care less. This is really an extraordinary find. My example has seen British service. The double arrow stamp, which means ,, Old but still serviceable '' and the lacquered leather grip attest to that. The L8 under the crown are Liege (Belgium) inspection stamps and the fresh new counter polish at the ricasso. So, it may have done service in the Crimean War. I do not think that it was marked for issue in Germany, as the regimental marks would have been filed away before export and this job would leave a small inspection stamp on the counter guard. The counter guard shows no file marks, is of regular thickness and is without that stamp. The state it came in was not very bad, but there was pitting here and there and the lines were kinda washed out, so I decided to do a grand overhaul and to give it the nice bright polish back. I also made a new, but old looking, finger loop and a new leather washer. All in all, I am very glad this sabre came my way. Just to show how dramatic the impact of the new 1849 must have been for the troops, I include a picture of the M1849 side by side with my enlisted Blucher. Clearly we see two very different worlds and the huge change in the philosophy behind German Cavalry combat, or so they want us to believe. How far this is the result of mere vanity is a question I would like answers to. The issue of better hand protection I can understand. The notion that one letter from a trooper about a few buddies losing fingers was enough to spark this undertaking is, as far as I am conserned, claptrap. Look at the Crimean War. It took endless bickering and dead bodies stacked to the cieling to make badly needed improvements. So, in the latter light, I also understand the peer pressure when foreign Staff is invited to the spring manouvers and they stand there giggling a bit at your brave troopers still equipped with the old Bluchers. Vanity goes a long way. I would have gone the direction of rehilting the Bluchers. As it is, it is a much more efficient weapon. It would have cut ribbons out of the dreaded Russian great coats. The British with their nancy pancy P1821 found out, during the Crimean War, that these coats were very near old style Kevlar in substance. Where the Blucher is an uncompromising old school chopper, straight from the steppes, the all new M1849 and the soon to follow M1852 don't have this enormous killing power. These latter are results of that hampering quest for the Holy Grail, the perfect chopper and perfect stabber all in one. There is no such thing, so both new models are compromises. This is not to say they are bad sabres. Not at all. It is just that the Blucher is a much more nimble sabre. Mine feels almost weightless. Somehow I get this feeling she was much smarter than Wilhelm. Yes, I am quite smitten by her. Both the new models display the nose heavyness that will be the new German standard. And as during the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm the sabre as the weapon of first choice lost its place to the Ulahn lance, you can clearly see why the Blucher was done for. Luckely for us German Staff decided not to scrap the Bluchers, but to hold them in stock as reserve for troops behind the front lines and to hold some of them for the Artillery. Prussian Artillery sabres with rehilted old Blucher blades can still be found. Well, I hope you enjoyed the above a bit. Next up will be my M1852's. Cheers. Edit: I have edited the following: The L8 under crown stamp is a Liege inspection mark. Before the sabres ended up in British hands, the Belgians had purchased the lot. Also, I have included a picture of the second model, the Weyersberg of 1850. This sabre had a metal ring on the ferrule, to hold the leather finger loop. Edit II :: Changed the status of Victoria Luise from wife to daughter of Wilhelm. Thanks Treeslicer who alerted me to my stupid mistake.
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Post by Dave Kelly on Jun 11, 2016 19:05:34 GMT
I'm still a bit confused. I did read about this some time ago, but wasn't interested ( DOOH!)
Am I to understand that you acquired the 1849 in the picture? Did it come to in 5 star condition or is this a case of Uhlan magic workshop refurbishing.
All I can say is
WOW
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Jun 11, 2016 19:57:48 GMT
Thanks for the nice comment Dave. When I got the M1849 it looked like this: This is what I use for basic clean up. A small roll of 3M 80 grid will follow all curves and contours. It is ideal for fuller work. Like so: The ground work on the tip is done and the lines are back: This is what I use for the flats. A little half round block of about 4 cm long: And here is the sabre with all the nasties gone, with new sharp lines and ready for the first stage of the polish: Which involves days of working with tiny bits of paper in various grades and oil. Much like Japanese finger stones: I use this same system for all my sabres, hence the rather large amount of used paper in the background. Maybe it is about time I do a post on this cleaning stuff. Cheers.
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Post by Dave Kelly on Jun 11, 2016 21:19:39 GMT
Practice and experience I get. Talent I don't got. Youse is a artiste. ;)
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Post by Afoo on Jun 12, 2016 20:43:01 GMT
*bows down in awe* Great find and even greater work
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Post by darth on Jun 13, 2016 5:40:31 GMT
Paying attention to this. Screw the Antiques Roadshow look, I want my saber to look as close as it did when it was carried by some Bavarian Infantry officer.
You have that sword looking brand new!
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Jun 13, 2016 5:54:31 GMT
"Maybe it is about time I do a post on this cleaning stuff."
Ulahn, such a post would be most welcomed. Great job!
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Jun 13, 2016 11:14:52 GMT
Thank you all for the positive replies. I needed that after the relative sinkers, comment and views wise that is, of these two: sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/48054/portuguese-p1821-variant-reeves-birmingham and sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/47987/imperial-prussian-cavalry-trooper-pipeback Many a time I discussed with Dave the phenomenon where a post on a replica sword gets hundreds of views in no time,( nothing wrong with that for sure ) and posts about antiques, where one could actually learn something that could help with judging the offerings of the replica manufacturers, go unnoticed, almost. This perceived lack of curiosity (?) is sometimes enough to really throw in the towel and say ,,F#ck it, I got better things to do with my time. If I am right, Pino already moved on. I see ,, deleted member '' all over the place. I mean, even if your budget is barely enough to buy one replica a year and to my knowledge a lot of people in here DO have small purses, why should that be a reason not to be interested in history, in design, in why these things on your wall look the way they do. I am sure there are other reasons. The problem is that I would like to know about those and I cannot figure out how to reach more folk. Enfin. I will keep on posting stuff. I like it here. I like to converse with the small amount of people that seem to enjoy this sabre/antique universe. I am not a Prima Donna attention w$#re. Although, in all honesty, it is eerily satisfying to see pictures on Google Images, like: Hey! That's Dave! Oi! That's me! Also a little creepy. Them Google bots are fast. So. To come back to pgandy: I have been mulling the ,, How To '' post for a long time now. First I have to work on the M1852. One is already done, the other has problems, see: sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/48091/sabre-measles?page=1&scrollTo=660461but it is going along fine. Just takes more time. After I post them I could do the HT thing? Question is: Where shall I post the HT? In this section? In the Sword Repair section? General Discussions? I am open to suggestions. And darth: ,, Screw the Antiques Roadshow look '', that made me laugh. For me, as a euro, this is typical down to earth American straightness and greatness. Cheers.
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Post by Croccifixio on Jun 13, 2016 12:41:26 GMT
This is just so beautiful. I've been reading up on sabres and so far this one has struck me the most. I definitely like the Blucher shape and cutting proportions but this one just looks... Perfect.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2016 16:39:01 GMT
Nice job on the sword and background. I agree that the lady is a bit of a hottie.
I have undergone restoration on a couple of swords but there is often a balance of what there is to work with. With needle etching that is then Blue&Gilt, one is faced with losing the etching entirely if taking steel down to remove pitting.
There really are more than just conservation and restoration as the end life for any object. There are many shades of gray between relic and refurbished (as in complete restoration). As far as resale goes, recouping the effort of a full restoration is often a buyers market but I have broken even for a few knives. A good many look at restored or heavily cleaned weapons as scraped and often priced accordingly, it is few that might appreciate a full bright restoration. It looks like it works in this case and there was a good base to work with.
Some do look at dirt and grime as patina but patina goes beyond the dirt and grime. That is true of furniture and even jewelry (especially watches). There is no doubt that a crisp antique is appealing to view but it can be hard for some to appreciate a forced restoration. An old Colt pistol treated in this manner would lose any inherent value. That is just where that market lies. A lot of sword owners feel the same way. Clean and repair (if repair is needed) but making it "new" a really subjective matter.
One of my own little shop of horrors efforts involved polystyrene pellets and super glue to repair a patch of old ray skin. Replacing that grip entirely would have led to complete restoration and replacing the wood and eel skin scabbard entirely. In the end, would have cost more than a prime example would be worth in resale.
Looks good. I am sure there is a demand and market for refurbishing, as the British market shows. There are very few U.S.sword restoration sources and people. Even those two I can think of try to strike a balance with what they have to work with.
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Post by darth on Jun 13, 2016 16:42:22 GMT
I am glad to give you a laugh, least I can do as you, Dave and others have been both passively and actively helpful since I have signed up here. I owe you for the tip that led me to a sword that was not what I was looking for but caught me when I saw it and said " Plenty of Brit swords, this one is the one for right now.."
I was surprised that so few people are really into 17th,18th and 19th century swords and weapons? I like longswords and such, I like everything short of chainsaws . These weapons built empires, from a hopological view, that's no small thing, considering where they built these empires. The firearm and cannon were huge players in this for sure, but through much of this firearms were a lot less effective than they became by the Civil War, up to that time it was a damn good idea to be skilled in hand to hand combat and weapons for that end, if you were a military man or someone who wished to roam out into the wilds. These men faced many cultures in hand to hand combat, and won.
But on pne hand I should be glad they have not hit the popularity of Medieval style swords. I can not get a real 13th century sword I'd use but I can get a custom one, probably beeter than most back then, but with sabers, we have the opposite thing. So the repros all seem to come short of the old school ( unless you have someone who can C&C a blade, it seems.) and I don't see a lot of good custom stuff. There is a guy near me, but sabers are 29" in his world.
Some of the links to companies in France that some of you said have gotten real close and some guys who make blades that fit the bill.
But all of these options are in the price range, sometimes more than real swords, in good shape, so until Cornwell's "Waterloo" gets made by the big studios, these things will continue to be in this range and I'll have enough real ones in time to decide what I want when it's time to have one made that is purely to be made as a weapon, with not a damn concern for resale. Something that in my home gives me options my firearms do not give me, though I hope to never cut in anger again on anything not fruit, tatamae, from the butcher or roadside or foam noodles.
Please keep posting the history of these blades, what you have found n your research and of coarse your methods of bringing them back to inspection standards.
You and Dave and others help keep these things "alive" not people who consider it some cool thing on the mantle.
I play guitar. when someone has a 1959 Les Paul, but they don;t p[lay, no one plays it and it lives on a wall? Man I wish some kid goes commando, liberates that thing and then writes a great song about it.
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Jun 13, 2016 18:33:18 GMT
It was not that I thought little of your “Two Imperial Prussian M1889 ...” post, on the contrary. It was long and caught me at an inopportune time. Also the photos take a long time to download. I am always interested in your work but at times I think my comments may sound redundant. Keep up the good work.
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Post by dchisenh on Jun 13, 2016 19:46:25 GMT
I can understand your frustration Ulahn, but please don't stop posting! The amount of work you've done to document the history surrounding these pieces is on par with what you spent restoring them, and I'm truly impressed by both! While your posts may not get as many responses and hits by folks who are more concerned with other types of swords or are more interested in swords they perceive as being available to own by them (like repros), there are plenty of folks here who do appreciate all that work and often stare in slack-jawed awe at the amazing pieces of history you've brought back to life! Keep it up! -Dan
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Jun 13, 2016 22:20:19 GMT
pgandy: Your comments are never redundant, but very much appriciated. You have a very to the point way of looking at things that can be very enlightning. And I feel like a spoilt brat for never contemplating the fact that a lot of people just have to make due with slow connections. Also, I will keep on doing what I love the most at this fase in my live. Croccifixio: Thank you very much for the complement. Wait until I get my hands free to go after the Blucher. Luckily the blade is in very good condition for the age. The scabbard though needs more work. Handling it again after a rather long time for the picture above, I found that the brown is not a patina in the way of patination through neglect, but the good old musket brown. On the scabbard there are thin spots from handling and those I will try to bring back again by dunking the sealed scabbard in Eau d"Ulahn. It is the old fashioned way and my experiment on one of my French M1822 had excellent results. The resulting brown layer is very very strong and looks that much better than the chemical ,, Plumb Brown '' from a bottle. On the grip the brown is intact. What the F am I doing? This Blucher is part of a set of 3 P1796 LC'S and an Officers Blucher. They all need work too.Groooan. darth: ,,I owe you for the tip that led me to a sword that was not what I was looking for but caught me when I saw it and said " Plenty of Brit swords, this one is the one for right now.." Beware of Greeks baring gifts. One of the many freaks of collecting is that one hardly goes home with the thing one was going for. Look at me. I am the virtual cultural black hole, as Dave likes to call me. Of course he is right. As always. I am a nutcase. So I went, grumbling as is my habit, to a collectors fair. I had my mind set on sabres and not buying anything else since ,, I have enough of all that old garbage "", grumble grumble and ,, Europe is one big garbage dump on top of lots of dead people '', grumble grumble some more. Yeah right. So I went home with: 2 18th C. silver seal stamps and 2 more in bronze from the same old French family long since guillotined. I still have to find out about them. One early 16th C. Herbal in bad condition but still attractive. One nice little Renaissance Italian book illustration from a Book of Hours ( which I stuck in another book to keep it safe, so I cannot find it anymore...). One small 16th c. amulet cut out of bone with some sort of gold waist band attached to it. And to top it off, a large bronze Tang mirror nobody was interested in, so I got the thing for peanuts. I let you know not because I like bragging. I hate that. It is just to show you about the fact that when one goes out for item A, one goes home with something completely different. So darth, be wary of the collecting virus. It is highly contagious. Before you know it you will be pleading with your wife to convince her she must go out pole dancing to finance that beautiful WWII MG 42 you saw last week with all the numbers matching. ,, Honey, please? It will look so nice in the hall facing the front door? ''. We are the worst lot of mouth foaming retards you have ever met. I know I am. Go ask Dave. And you are dead on about the 19th C. stuff still being affordable. With a bit of luck one can score nice stuff still. It is very much a buyers market. In my trade I see the younger generation totally devoid of any feeling for history. I had American twenty somethings around that did not know about WWII. They stood there doo eyed. Stalin? Never heard off. They know there where Romans because of the Gladiator movie. That's all. So, the market is for older dudes and is shrinking. They die out. I shiver at the thought of what could happen to all those wonderful private collections when we are gone. edelweiss: You are right about many things and touching upon a subject I encountered many times, when you talk about British preferences. To me it seems that restoration and the preference on how far to go, is very much a local thing. The French for instance like antiquarian books that are totally cleaned. They do this by removing the old binding and placing the pages in a bath. Once the paper is clean again the pages are sewn back and the old and cleaned cover is put back again. I have held many books from France that were treated that way and it is a sorry sight. Like you are holding a print to command edition. As far as books are concerned for me part of the attraction is rummaging through them and finding little signs of persons long gone. Wine stains, food particles, dead flowers, small notes inserted in them, like a shopping list, candle wax, seal wax, on and on. I clean the gilding and remove old sooth stained wax layers from the binding and wax it again. No more. I have done conservation of archaeological items for 30 something years and learned a great deal. This one for instance I will never ever touch: It is sitting on my computer desk, so I see it when I write. It looks ridiculously modern, but is a bronze wine goblet ( Jiao ) of the Erlitou Culture 1900 - 1500 BC, so pre dynastic China or China for that matter. Here the patina is very much part of the attraction. Damaging it would be cultural vandalism. Same for Roman, Greek, Etruscan, Persian or whatever stuff from antiquity. One can remove the dirt, the sand or clay, but not the patination to the extend that one has an as new object back. In some cases the patination is almost all that is left. For younger objects I have this rule: It all depends on the extend of the damage done. If restoration or cleaning will damage the object in anyway, I will not do it. That said, the cleaning of old guns is also a local matter. On Belgian fairs one sees nothing else than fully cleaned guns. Colts or other wise. Sellers know they get a better price. It seems the reverse is true in the States. As far as sabres are concerned, most of the patina what is seen there is because of decennia of neglect. What I call bad stewardship. It has nothing to do with what persons on other forums call ,, history ''. Most of the sabres we see have no history to speak off. The sabres with real history often got damaged in battle, were taken back to the armoury for salvaging of parts, if possible. The funny thing is that these same people who have their mouth running off all the time about history, will not pay for a sabre that has some nicks in the blade. For them that is damaged goods. Now, do they want history or not? If I look at a blade and I see damage through neglect and I know that underneath the rubbish there sits a shiny and sound blade waiting to come out again, I will do my job. And even on a good restored blade there are always plenty signs of old age. One only has to do ones best to see. As long as the character and old age charisma is preserved I at least have no qualms with taking the sanding papers to it. If you know what you are doing, that is. Cheers.
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Post by darth on Jun 14, 2016 1:28:53 GMT
A common problem among our 20nothings is their lack of historical context and they all got trophies for showing up. But take some heart, my sons' 14 and 10 are both very fascinated by all of this and they have sport fenced a bit and the older one pulled off some rather sopphsiticated combat fencing move, that got him zero points but got a lot of "awes" because if both boys had blade, mine ran the other one through the face and this one act has gave him a confidence, not arrogance about sword and he is very excited that I told him after he gets off school for the summer, along with getting him fit and back into Ju Jutsu, he will get to learn the basic drills with a steel blade and he can fence synthetics with myself and the gang.
He likes the idea of going to reenactments and teaching drills, doing demos and playing a kind of Richard Sharpe meets Orie Main. My boys love history, The older I took to the 150th anniversary re-enactment of 1st Manassas, a battle his maternal ancestors fought in as well as much appriciation for how his maternal grandfather brought artilery on himself to kill a bunch of Waffen SS that was all around him at the battle of the Bulge and winning a Bronze Star. Fighting under Patton, when his great grandfather fought with Jackson and then Mosby. Mosby used to tell a young Georgie Patton war strories and fence him with a wooden sword. A circle there they feel when standing on land that has been in the family since the came from Scotland in the 1700's and the stories are told. They will probably own some of that very land their kin fought and bled for. And I am a nut about my side as well, the Nordic-British-French side with Indian marrying pagan admirals in the 1860s, not afraid to rock the boat, Hillbilly's and Iowa farmers and such.
We are not all ignorant plebs. :-)
So I can see him helping me with making old swords look new and unlike Ju Jutsu and Arnis, he's not dealing with a dad whos' got decades in western sword, I fully expect him to be kicking my ass in a few years when it comes to single stick and synthetic western swords. I could see him ripping it up at HEMA comps and riding my sisters horse and killing melons.
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Post by Croccifixio on Jun 14, 2016 5:39:36 GMT
Indeed. Your collections would be worth thousands. Hopefully some from my generation will pick up this passion and preserve what we have.
It is quite curious that in the most famous of sword cultures, the old blades regularly get polished to look new and increase in value so long as the blade is not ground too thin, whereas in the Western collecting community, such actions would normally destroy whatever resale value the blade has. I for one subscribe to the philosophy that we should make these items look as they would originally look in the hands of the warrior wielding the weapon: polished, sharp, and ready for battle. Although of course, for important historical artifacts, perhaps there would be an exception. Nevertheless, I see no joy in keeping and displaying swords with broken hilts or rusty blades for the sake of "preserving" the oxidization and dirt of history. Most of our world today is built on the dust of our forebears and I see no sacrilege in stepping out onto the street and breathing in my ancestor's ashes.
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Jun 14, 2016 5:44:52 GMT
Darth: Please do not take what I see around me and report here in an admittedly generalising way as a personal affront. Of course I know not all are ignorant. But sometimes I feel that a majority is. Maybe I am too pessimistic. Good luck with your kids. They seem to be a great lot and if your family's history is something to go by they have good working material to keep them on the right track. I am sure where the ass kicking is concerned they will do it respectfully, in a gentlemanly fashion and grinning all the way when they escort you to the local MD. :D
dchisenh: Thank you for your uplifting response. For me a great deal of satisfaction is seeing ones actual work in ,,print'', for reals, on the net. My generation grew up in a totally different situation, like ,, You want to publish? Go write a book'' sort of way, so there were no ,, views '' at all. So, I better learn to be happy with the views I get and stop sempriniing. Thanks again.
Cheers.
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Scott
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Post by Scott on Jun 14, 2016 5:53:33 GMT
Please keep posting Ulahn, I enjoy reading your threads and might even be learning something from them. A description of how you do restorations would be great too.
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Jun 14, 2016 17:03:34 GMT
8-) Croccifixio: ,, Nevertheless, I see no joy in keeping and displaying swords with broken hilts or rusty blades for the sake of "preserving" the oxidization and dirt of history. Most of our world today is built on the dust of our forebears and I see no sacrilege in stepping out onto the street and breathing in my ancestor's ashes.''
Hear, Hear!
I think the patina and ,, history '' addiction started in the late 19th C. Before about 1870 there was no notion under the general public of historical value. Out of fashion table silver was melted down and more fashionable silver was cast again. Old houses were torn down. There was absolutely nothing like our notion of preserving the past. Around the late 19th C. Archaeology became sort of mainstream, with all assorted new notions like preservation and conservation and patina, the lot. I think the issues started there and since a lot of people do not know any better, that old and misbegotten meme still claims its victims. On the whole it seems to be a rather elitist credo, since the bourgeois were of course very involved in this new and exiting fashion. Archaeological societies sprang up all over. Also it seems to me that hangers on to the old meme, consentrated at one of SBG's sister sites mostly, display the same rather arrogant attitude. That top down ,, we know best because we are a dentist and went to school and look down on hand work '' mentallity. They like to lay down the law. For us. In the end I just find them rather boring and quite stupid. I strongly believe that the Japanese do the right thing. They honour their blades. Those old blades have souls. And by giving honour to the blades they give honour to the people that were carrying them. But I feel sorry for the blades rotting away on walls in McMansions all over suburbia, kidnapped by fashionably Left leaning, committee frequenting, ,,networking'', pipe smoking and tweed clad, semi intellectual soulless Borg.
While I am in the mood, I am gonna play that wonderfull oldie ,, White Punks On Dope '' by the Tubes, the Borg kids anthem 8-)
Scott: Thanks very much and will do.
Cheers.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2016 20:45:58 GMT
Once again, a difference between conservation and restoration, with lots of shades of gray.
I view many of my collections as resting for potential resale. Cleaning is usually as far as I go unless I think a piece will be mine forever. On some I have gone further with, I have encountered the same "why on earth would you do that?" In that case I take them on a further tour and explanation but know the restored piece would likely fetch no profit in sale. On the other hand, a little careful cleaning and basic nourishment can boost a value.
Taking an old Colt again as example. Careful cleaning is fine but sanding down a frame, barrel or cylinder; or even removing the old wood finish, courting disaster as to value. For one's own purpose,it's fine but a serious collector is likely to pass it buy.
A funnier example would be a Puma knife I just bought. The seller did show a lot of what scratches on the blade showed and some of the back spring but didn't bother to mention someone had filed off the production number. I messaged him, as I kind of laughed because it is a piece I'll never sell and bought for regular use. It did register as to why it went for short money. I'll clean up the sharpening scratches and pocket it proudly.
Paintings and other objects have changed in perspective some as old finishes and varnish are carefully removed and replaced with period formulae.
My rust busting to do list is getting a bit out of hand but know those latecomers would still be welcome at other homes with energetic buyers looking to conserve some themselves. So, my bucket of WWII knives sit at the bottom of the to do list, with a Starr sabre staring me down saying "save me" There it is, two hundred years young and a couple of small patches to polish. Something tells me it could easily outlive me and not deteriorate much.
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