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The Blade Register

European swords, described entry by entry

Care and collections: keeping and seeing old blades

Most European swords that survive did so by accident, and most of the damage they carry was done after they stopped being used. This section covers what attacks a blade in storage, how collections control it, and where to go to see well conserved material in person.

Entries in this section

6 of 21 entries All twenty-one entries
  1. Close view of an old iron blade showing bright orange pitting corrosion along one edge next to a stable dark grey patina, with the surface texture of the metal clearly visible
    CAR-01

    Rust, handling and storage

    Almost all damage to old blades happens slowly, in storage, from hands, damp and the wrong materials. Very little of it comes from use.

    Period
    Practice today
    Type
    Practice
  2. Long museum gallery lined with glass cases of edged weapons, swords mounted vertically in rows under even lighting, with a polished stone floor running the length of the room
    CAR-02

    Where to see European swords

    Eleven collections, three blade museums and five archaeological holdings, with what to look for in each and how to read what the label is actually telling you.

    Period
    All periods
    Type
    Directory
  3. A wooden table by a north-facing window, a single metal crochet hook resting on a half-finished chain of cream cotton yarn, a paper pattern with pencil tick marks beside it, soft daylight from the
    CAR-03

    Crochet basics: hook, chain and stitch heights

    How to hold a crochet hook, work a first chain, tell single from treble crochet, and read pattern abbreviations without losing your place.

    Period
    Today
    Type
    Guide
  4. A weathered wooden workbench set on a gravel shore at low tide, a hand plane and a sharpening stone resting on it, a paper logbook open beside them, flat grey-green water and a pale winter sky
    CAR-04

    Workshop Records from the Chesapeake Shore

    A look at how coastal workshops document their practice: plein air painting, local clay ceramics and bench work, as recorded along the Anne Arundel shore.

    Period
    Today
    Type
    Practice
  5. A shallow river seam at first light, fast water meeting a slow eddy beside a gravel bar, with a wading angler standing midstream in the middle distance, shot from a low bank position with the surface
    CAR-05

    Field Skills Shared by Rod and Blade

    Reading water, seasons and legal calendars, knots and safety: what sword readers can borrow from American fly fishing and hunting practice.

    Period
    United States, today
    Type
    Guide
  6. A reading room table under a north-facing window, with bound volumes of nineteenth-century Finnish newspapers stacked at one end and a single loose broadsheet open flat in the middle, daylight raking
    CAR-06

    Paper, Print and the Finnish Press

    How Finland's forest industry shaped its newspapers, weeklies and reading habits, and where the record of that print culture is kept.

    Period
    Finland, today
    Type
    Guide

Five habits that do most of the damage

5 habits

None of these is dramatic, and that is exactly the problem. Each of them looks like care.

  1. Handling the blade with bare hands, then putting it away without wiping it. Skin chlorides etch polished steel within days.
  2. Storing the sword in its scabbard. Leather holds moisture and residual tanning acids against the metal for years.
  3. Polishing off the rust. Abrasives remove the original surface, and with it inlays, marks and the evidence a conservator reads.
  4. A handsome oak display case. Oak gives off acetic acid, and a sealed case concentrates it.
  5. Hanging a heavy sword by its grip. Years of load on an old tang and an older peen, for the sake of the view.

Every one of the five is reversible in the sense that you can stop doing it today. None of them is reversible in the sense that the damage already done can be undone, which is why the storage question is worth settling before the display question.

What a blade is allowed to touch

10 materials

Most of the materials that feel protective, leather, felt, a nice wooden case, are the ones that cause trouble, because they either hold water against the metal or give off something that attacks it. The list below is the short version of a decision that gets made once and then lasts for decades.

What a blade is allowed to touch. The verdicts follow standard conservation practice for iron and for mixed metal objects.
MaterialVerdictWhy
Acid free tissueSuitableBuffered, and nothing migrates out of it onto the metal
Unbleached washed cottonSuitableNo sulphur, no dressing, no residual bleach
Polyethylene and polypropylene foamSuitableChemically inert, and it cushions a heavy object
Conditioned silica gelSuitableHolds a chosen humidity inside a reasonably sealed case
Oak, chestnut and other tannin rich woodsAvoidGive off acetic acid, which attacks iron and lead
Untreated leatherAvoidHolds moisture against the steel and carries tanning acids
Wool feltAvoidReleases sulphur compounds that tarnish and attack silver inlay
PVC and soft plasticsAvoidPlasticisers migrate and leave a film on the surface
Newspaper and plain cardboardAvoidAcidic, and they absorb and hold damp
Rubber bands and rubber feetAvoidSulphur again, and they perish onto whatever they touch

The single cheapest improvement most private collections can make is to take the swords out of their scabbards, lay them flat on inert foam, and put a conditioned bag of silica gel in the case. Everything else is refinement.

When the answer is a conservator, not a forum

Ask a professional whenever there is active corrosion, meaning fresh orange powder or weeping spots; whenever an inlay is lifting; and whenever metal is combined with leather, wood, horn or textile, because those materials want different conditions and the compromise is a judgement call.

Accredited registers are public and free to search: the Institute of Conservation keeps one for the United Kingdom, and the member associations of the European Confederation of Conservator Restorers' Organisations keep equivalents across Europe.