Sacrilege?

[CurtisR]

I'll probably catch 'heck' over this question, but has anyone tried or do they use (or is it correct to use) a product called "Renaissance Micro-Crystalline wax polish on Tsuba to protect them from rust, etc?

 

I've been reading about it, and it's supposed to be "Archival" and non-destructive to patina but thought I'd pose the ?

Let the slaughter begin ~~ :D

 

Best Regards,

 

Curtis R.

[drbvac]

I use it on my colt and remington revolvers and it is quite amazing at protecting and it is not sticky or shiny but - 600 yrs of using oil and cleaning must work fairly good as well. What I don't know is how hard the wax is to take off - I suppose some alcohol may take it right off - don't plan on "testing" it on a blade worth 10 times the guns !

[CurtisR]

Kudos to your revolvers, Dr. Brian! I *highly* agree it shouldn't go on a blade...was thinking Tsuba only and f/k perhaps?

 

Curtis R.

[IanB]

Curtis, Brian, Renaissance Micro-Crystalline wax is a synthetic used extensively in the museum world. At the Royal Armouries we use it for all European armour and weapons since it is good at sealing the surface of iron / steel but is not sticky and hence dust tends not to accumulate on its surface. All the armours on open display are coated with it as well as items in stores. It comes off completely with any non-polar solvent such as white-spirit or xylene and hence is reversible.

Ian Bottomley

[paulb]

I also use this on firearms and european weapons. I have never considered using it on Japanese blades and am sure I never will. I would be interested in the views of fittings specialists as to whether it might be suitable for tsuba and other fittings.

[markturner]

I have asked about this product and its use or possible usefulness on swords here before. I think generally the feeling here is " why change the accepted way - choji oil has worked for centuries..." But Like Ian says, it is a fantastic product, I use to protect my carpentry hand tools, such as planes, chisels etc that get handled a lot and suffer from the same issues of contamination by oils from fingers and moisture as sword blades, and it works brilliantly. I certainly don't see that it could harm a sword blade, after all, steel is steel..That said, I tried it out on one blade of mine and I have noticed no issues at all. But my other blades I have kept traditional and use the oil. The big advantage I can see from using it, is that once applied, its dry and completely unnoticeable, so you don't need to keep cleaning the oil from the blade every time you want to study it. But, that in itself is a pleasing and satisfying ritual as well, and I can perfectly see how people would not want to avoid doing that..

 

Cheers, Mark

[Chinook]

Hello Curtis, I use that wax on everything except Japanese blades in art polish. Been using it for years on all my antiques, great stuff. By the way beware of Choji oil from unknown sources like e-bay, you never know what you are getting.

Take care, Mark P.

[CurtisR]

Glad to hear it's a very useful thing to have...I'll order a tin or two for firearms as well as other little goodies . I hadn't thought (genuinely) of using it on the blade itself, but for the Tsuba & f/k;'s only....sounds like Mark had good luck with it, even on a blade, which is a good sign!

 

It also sounds like it IS non-destructive to remove (with the right chem's) and to use, and dries with no sheen which would probably be great for Shinken / Iaito as well. Thank you all for such great information - this board has an amazing wealth of knowledge!

 

Curtis R.

[CurtisR]

Sorry for the late remark as well (For Mark) --- I agree that you never know what you might get in Choji oil from unknown sources! I studied a bit o this, and simply use standard mineral oil w/ drops of Clove Oil (from WalMart pharmacy it's about $3.00 U.S./2ml) - and of course it goes into a very cool 2 oz. German-Silver bottle that fits nicely into my kit....'sword bling' LOL. It has worked very well over the past several years and when > I < make it, I known what's in it ! Very good point though.

 

best,

 

Curtis R.

[Mark Green]

Curtis, And Gang,

 

I use this wax on every new tsuba I make. It has become the last step in my patina process. I put it on when the metal is warm enough to melt the wax, do a light hand buff, and it's good to go.

It will protect them from peoples sticky fingers

I use it on fittings, and wooden sword & knife handles as well.

I haven't tried it on new blades, but it may work fine. It is a great product.

 

Mark G

[CurtisR]

Just ordered 2 small tins yesterday Mark - hard to find here in the US it seems, but found it from the U.K., and it was about $12.00 US per tin which isn't bad / nice to know it keeps prints off of things as well!

Curtis

[Pete Klein]

JFYI it's available at amazon.com and on Ebay.