pgandy
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Posts: 10,296
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Post by pgandy on May 4, 2023 13:47:14 GMT
As for the saying, I am not in the US. Now that I know its an Idiom I googeled it. Never ever heard this before. Seems to be quite a place specific phrase.
“Not holding your mouth right” is an expression used by the second party after the first party has tried multiple times to do something without success to perform some act or job. The then second comes along and seemingly doing the same thing but with success. Leaving the first party with an astonished expression as to say WTF, at which point the second party responds with “oh, you just weren’t holding your mouth right”. EDIT: Similarly when something is not working for one person, another will “You’re not holding your mouth right”.
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Post by mrstabby on May 4, 2023 15:44:26 GMT
Natural wax can work. I've got friends that have spring tempered steel armor that use carnuba and beeswax, and swear by it. It seems to work very well. Plus, it sounds like you've got one like I do...it rusts if you look at it funny. That one I clean with windex then ren-wax. It works about 1/3rd as well compared to the other swords. So 6 months for most, 2 months for the problem child. I have three sorts of swords. 1. the ones I have oiled once in an eternity and never got any rust 2. the ones that I need to oil every few months and 3. the ones that won't accept the oils I give them. Stupid oil snobs. Its not very wet in the room they are in, 50-60% humidity max. I have cutter blades lying around without oil and they don't rust as long as I do not touch them. You can get nice rusty fingerprints on them. But the swords seem to be more sensitive than the cutter blades. I have two 1045 blades and they are really easy, they do not seem to rust as easily as the 1065 do.
I have applied a coat of vaseline to the Oxtail today, I'll see in the next few days if it rejects this as well, so far it seems to stick.
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Post by mrstabby on May 9, 2023 11:36:37 GMT
Ren Wax is here, but the vaseline seems to have stayed on so far, I am tempted to just let it sit for testing. Another thing, the vaseline seems to be better at cleaning off metal shavings left when sanding or polishing from the surface than oil. Is a thread somewhere, what oil/grease/wax is good for what purpose?
I have a question about brass. I remember my grandfather using some sort of lacquer to protect brass doorknobs from corrosion, I can't ask him anymore. The brass fittings tarnish quickly, has anyone used transparent coatings to protect something like this? Or would the renaissance wax be resistant enough to protect the fittings when in use? I should have bought the black version Dao, but the brass just spoke to me, so shiny...but not for very long unfortunately, the oil isn't enough protection.
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on May 9, 2023 12:27:16 GMT
Guess what I use for brass! I might be wrong but somehow I got the impression that Vaseline soaks into the surface. I usually put on a thicker layer and wipe it off after a few days (resoaking the rag). After this a very thin layer, nearly invisible, is enough to protect the blade.
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on May 9, 2023 12:41:23 GMT
Ren wax can protect brass and keep it shiny for a year or two. Then ya strip it off, polish, and recoat.
One thing about Ren Wax I learned recently on this board... Warm the blade, the wax goes on better, and seems to flow into the surface better, filling micro scratches etc. I use a hair dryer....
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Post by mrstabby on May 9, 2023 13:08:28 GMT
@ AndiTheBarvarian : Vaseline will stick well to the small defects on the surface since its so viscous. And you are not able to get all off the surface just by wiping (like honey). I guess the thin layer left will dry and harden with time. It also shouldn't be harmful to any metal since it's neiter acidic nor basic. I have read it can get acidic if it gets the right bacteria in it though. I'd say its somewhere in between oil and wax for protection. Honestly I didn't think of vaseline at first, but it seems well suited for carbon steel. I want something more resistant on the brass though @ sir Thorfinn: Thanks, thats a good Idea. The wax smells a bit like varnish (I didn't expect that, is this normal?), like it has some solvents in it, will it get harder after it is applied? I got some leaflet with the wax, but its only an ad how great the stuff is, nothing about how I should use it or what it does.
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Post by larason2 on May 9, 2023 15:14:59 GMT
Personally I would never use any solvents other than water on a blade. I'm guessing the oil doesn't stick because the solvents are deeply impregnated on the metal. Could also be they used an acif etch and left the surface very hydrophillic. One thing you can try is giving it a polish, like the iron oxide polish used by the Japanese (dissolved in oil), or you can also get a carbide polish in oil. The carbide would be shinier. Either give a gorgeous but still luminous matte finish that's really rust resistant. You can also try charcoal dust and baking soda, used by Ford Hallam, which gives a more subtle polish, but the baking soda will probably take care of any solvents, as it does oil. You could try just rubbing it with baking soda in a small amount of water too, then oil it after. All of these are applied with a horse hair brush you can make very easily. Of course, the risk is here that you'll damage the etching, but the tradeoff may be that they look even better with the fancy polish! My experience is that such polishes are time consuming to apply though, so take that into consideration.
I just got some renaissance wax, and I'm a huge fan, so I would finish with that once you get it.
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Post by mrstabby on May 9, 2023 16:09:43 GMT
Solvents dissipate quickly and wouldn't stick to the steel in any situation except if it was really, really cold, or if you did something stupid like using acidic solvents. Neither solvent discussed in the thread would make any bond with the steel and all have such a high vapour pressure that they will be gone after a few minutes at the latest. The water is worse for a carbon steel blade than acetone or alcohol in my opinion. The blades aren't etched either. And as I said before, I have used sandpaper to refinish the surface a bit and it didn't help any. I can't polish the sword now because i hurt my arm, so I unfortunately can only do small stuff right now.
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