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Post by jagerspiel on May 31, 2023 23:37:44 GMT
Hello I recently picked up what I think is an argentine 1898 sword. Unfortunately the back of the hilt had been snapped off by a previous owner and epoxied back on. On the plus side after pointing this out I talked the seller down to a very low price. Does anyone have any suggestions to repair this piece? I mainly plan on using this as a backyard cutter as it has been recently sharpened and has lost much of its historic value. Thanks for any suggestions!
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mrstabby
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Post by mrstabby on Jun 1, 2023 8:25:07 GMT
So, unfortunately, I think there is nothing you can really do without disassembly. You could give it to someone who restores blades to exchange the guard or maybe he could weld it. I think welding as is is dangerous because the close proximity to the handle, you'd probably singe the wood and the spacer (is it leather, the ring on the blade?).
So either give it to a professional or leave it. You could try to epoxy it again with metal epoxy, but this won't hold up to much use I bet.
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Jun 1, 2023 14:50:34 GMT
Perhaps you can replace the broken part as a previous owner did using epoxy or Loctite. Both will give you more work time than a CA glue and the clean up, while still wet, will be better than either CA or epoxy.
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mrstabby
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Post by mrstabby on Jun 1, 2023 15:19:50 GMT
For epoxy, you could try something like JB Weld metal epoxy (J-B Weld 8265S Cold Weld Steel Reinforced Epoxy). It will cure harder than normal epoxy but it is dark grey to black, depending on the mixture. If you lay some fibres (glass or carbon) perpendicular over the crack and then put the glue over it MIGHT hold. You should rough up the finish where you lay the fibres, so the glue can hold onto the surface. Only glueing it on without strengthening the side it will fall off again sooner or later.
The metal epoxy alone might work, if you put fibre reinforcements on the outside, I would use clear epoxy for that .
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Post by jagerspiel on Jun 2, 2023 23:03:01 GMT
Thanks for the suggestions! I'll give JB weld a try tonight as I have some on hand and see if it holds up. If that doesn't work I'll explore reinforcing it with other materials.
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on Jun 3, 2023 2:35:32 GMT
Another thought. I know a jeweler that can silver solder something like this. ( the low temp stuff) She did it for free, as it was a challenge. Ask around, you may be able to find a bench jeweler that can do this. My example was a nice clean solder that when finished and polished was near invisible. Maybe?
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Ouroboros
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Post by Ouroboros on Jun 3, 2023 3:35:07 GMT
Another thought. I know a jeweler that can silver solder something like this. ( the low temp stuff) She did it for free, as it was a challenge. Ask around, you may be able to find a bench jeweler that can do this. My example was a nice clean solder that when finished and polished was near invisible. Maybe? Karma +=1. I was thinking some TIG welding and grinding might do it. Buuuut a soft silver solder would do this job. Oxy/prop microtorch and some flux. Or spend the $ on a jeweller (highly recommended as they can often custom up a batch of solder) and also polish away those nasty heating oxides the guard will get from this treatment. thanks for bringing this to the forefront of my brain
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mrstabby
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Post by mrstabby on Jun 3, 2023 15:59:21 GMT
Disclaimer: I have not done this before, so I don't know how high the risk of damage to wood and leather is when you heat up the guard, but it looks real close to these parts. If you can remove the guard, welding or soldering will be better than glue. Or if someone says it should be OK, you can try. You could use solder paste, its a flux paste with small solder beads in it, smear it on the break and heat the part up until it melts, then seat it tightly and remove the heat. You need to heat up the metal on both siders of the break to a degree for the solder to stick. I have removed the sights of a rifle that was silver soldered on, and it took more heat to reflow the solder than I expected, this is why I advise caution here.
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Ouroboros
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Post by Ouroboros on Jun 4, 2023 0:13:30 GMT
If you can remove the guard, welding or soldering will be better than glue... I had assumed disassembly was in the future cards...
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