Restore patina on iron Tsuba

[HannesT]

Hello everyone,

 

I would like to ask you for tips to restore the patina (blank spots, rust) I already heard the following ideas:

 

- Boiling water

- Spit (no joke)

- Storage exposed to weather, windowsill or similar

 

Of course, I don't want to damage the tsuba Have you already tried to restore it yourself—or better leave it to the pros?

 

It concerns the Tsuba attached.

 

 

Thanks Hannes

[johnnyi]

Hi. I've tried the woodshed thing and it's been a year and a half with nominal results. There's the old composted manure pile with a bag of sulfer yet to try.  Besides using some pretty dangerous chemicals, that's all I got.  Good luck

 

 

 

 

 

 

John

[ROKUJURO]

Hannes,

all drastic methods should absolutely be avoided!

There are some professionals who can do this so that would be the safest way.

Important thing in case you want to give it a go yourself: You should know what a good and authentic patina looks like. Removing active rust comes first. Please use nothing but a (relatively) soft pointed tool made from ivory, bone, hardwood, antler or alike (even pure copper), and clean with a dry cloth. 

Iron TSUBA can be handled without gloves and will profit from that. Exposing them to moist conditions (windowsill) will produce a thin coating of red rust in a short period of time. If you wipe the TSUBA regularly with a dry cotton cloth, a nice patina may appear after a loooong while. 

Be patient! 

[Ken-Hawaii]

+1

 

But that does bring up a question on patina in general. Should copper/brass/bronze tsuba only be handled with gloves? If so, then I've been really bad about my collection!

[vajo]

All soft metals only with gloves.

Iron can handled with bare hands. If it had its original patina i would use gloves too.

[Andi B.]

(But be careful with cloves and fine inlays not to tear them out...)

 

Is it possible to 'repair' spots only?

I know completely repatinated iron tsuba which look great again but I fear that is - if any - 'acceptable' only for low price tsuba without any original patina...

[vajo]

A good care on iron tsuba brings it back to a good condition. But it needs a lot of time.

 

I bought a tsuba in bad looking condition. After a year of care it looks like this now.

 

 

I cleaned it with a mild soap and a toothbrush (hard).

After that good drying, for the first weeks i sprayed it with caramba70 and cleand it every Friday with a cotton cloth.

Over the summer i removed the oil, put it in a shoes box in the garden shed. Once a week a wipe it with a cotton cloth.

After the summer i gave it some choji oil and stand it in the shelf.

 

No mechanical treating at all.

 

I like this piece a lot. And as Jean said i take it not with gloves, only with bare hands and it gets more beautifull every day.

[kissakai]

I've had one hanging up in the garage for over a year but no change

[Alex A]

I've had one hanging up in the garage for over a year but no change

 

Better under the eaves of a roof, or similar place, but out of direct rain.

 

You need to check it on a very regular basis as rust spots start to appear quickly.

 

Wipe with a cloth when you see surface rust develop, don't allow any serious rust to develop!

 

Not a quick remedy and I would only try this with certain tsuba, it will also take a few years or so to develop patina.

 

Not really something to do through winter either.

 

You will end up with a natural patina...………..eventually.

[Sly]

Give it to Ford Hallam...

[Jean]

Bad idea at the time being Sylvain, he is recovering from a heart attack.

[roger dundas]

I also had no idea of that either and wish him well .

 

Roger D 

[HannesT]

Thank you all very much for the helpful tips. This is much appreciated. And I will show updates in a year or so.

[Japan2112]

I cleaned an iron tsuba with some deer antler and overdid it. Hung it by the screen in my lanai (in Florida) where it got indirect rain sometimes and a lot of humidity and sunshine. The copper sekigane look great now while the iron is slowly improving ( 3 months)

[Rich S]

I've heard that black shoe polish does wonders on iron tsuba :-)

 

Just kidding, but I have heard of folks actually doing that.

 

Rich

[Curran]

I cleaned an iron tsuba with some deer antler and overdid it. Hung it by the screen in my lanai (in Florida) where it got indirect rain sometimes and a lot of humidity and sunshine. The copper sekigane look great now while the iron is slowly improving ( 3 months)

 

The "woodshed" method is something I first tried in Philadelphia about 20 years ago, also in NYC where we had a small rooftop apartment with great air flow between in the giant concrete valleys of the financial district. Results were mixed.

 

Florida is perfect for it, if you can find a place with high air flow and protect it from getting wet.

An air-tunnel like second garage catching a steady stream of coastal wind doesn't hurt. You have to monitor them and handle them every so often.

Still, it takes one to several years to get a good TLC patina back on an iron tsuba.

[Guest]

The term I believe is Nokishita  軒下  のきした 

[IanB]

All, Try and get a copy of 'Firearm Blueing & Browning' by R.H. Angier. It contains hundreds of recipes for colouring iron / steel from brown to black. Curiously many contain copper salts as well as acids and acidic salts. The length and breadth of this problem is that what is needed is to initiate an even coating of rust which, being hydrophilic will then keep absorbing moisture from the atmosphere and build up the desired oxide layer. In all cases it is necessary to keep removing the loose red rust whilst the patina builds up underneath. The colour you get depends on the degree of hydration of the oxide layer. I have only had to deal with a tsuba that some kindly soul had 'cleaned' with acid. Although it is slightly pitted, I did manage to get a good russet colour on it and then after washing and drying, applied a coat of beeswax which filled up some of the pitting. All I do now with it is give it a polish with a woollen cloth from time to time and it looks reasonable - not good because it was too damaged but at least I can live with it..

Ian Bottomley 

[johnnyi]

 If you are serious  about learning patinating of a damaged tsuba you might consider buying Gunsaulus's book, "Japanese Sword Mounts In The Field Museum". 

 

 

 

John

[Brian]

 If you are serious  about learning patinating of a damaged tsuba you might consider buying Gunsaulus's book, "Japanese Sword Mounts In The Field Museum".

 

John

Or go to the pdf thread in General Discussion and download that book for free.