Landships II

J Fullerton · Captain

slightly off topic question (bayonets)

Tim R · Hero

Hello Joe

I to collect bayonets, rifles, grenades. etc., I have ran into this problem before, The problem is if you leave the rust on the blades of the bayonets, the corrosion will keep eating, and completely destroy it. The rust has probably already caused pitting on the blade. For collector value/interest, the rust has to be removed. If you are going to try and resale them, I advise you to take them to a professional. they can use a electro machine to remove it for you, it will still have some pitting, but not as bad. I on the other hand, clean my rust off with gun oil, and a scouring pad, not a steel one,(it will scratch up the blade worse). I pour a little oil on and go to town, slowly.As far as the scabbard is concerned, I use a high quality mink, or leather oil, I have friend that uses a very light weight motor oil once a year, I am not sure about that one, But I get very good results with Mink oil.

Any way thats my bit on the subject.

Good Luck

All the Best

Tim R.

Centurion · Legend

Although I have no first hand experience with restoring bayonets (the only one I have is in v good condition) I am told that ultra sonic cleaning is the best possible option. This is normally used for things like fouled up carburettors where one has to be very careful about removing any metal at all (my late father used to restore WW1 vintage motorbikes which is how I first heard about it and I recently had to have a carb off a not at all vintage tractor cleaned this way). Its not cheap but still not an arm and a leg job. You have to find an engineering company that does sonic cleaning though.

J Fullerton · Captain

Thanks for the advice. The sonic cleaning sounds a bit too hard to find/expensive, but scouring with oil sounds like a good idea, and it sounds like getting the rust off is very important.