Restoration By Ian Dale 2416 Scabbard The scabbard as you can see was in bad shape with the leather badly cracked and areas missing Scabbard It was also dried out and flaking Grip The grip leather was not quite as bad but had areas missing and I felt it necessary to have the leather ID: 558650
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Slide1
Luftwaffe Sword Restoration
By Ian Dale
2/4/16Slide2
Scabbard
The scabbard as you can see was in bad shape with the leather badly cracked and areas missing.Slide3
Scabbard
It was also dried out and flaking.Slide4
Grip
The grip leather was not quite as bad but had areas missing and I felt it necessary to have the leather
on the
scabbard and grip matching.Slide5
Grip Restoration
The pommel was removed and I noticed the tang thread was bent and leaning to the left !Slide6
Grip Removal
Then followed a long and difficult attempt to remove the grip from the tang.
It was fixed solid and I believe this was not helped by the bent tang.
I soaked the grip and tang in lots of spray oil and left it to work for a few hours.
I then managed to get blocks of wood and tap the crossguard up along with the grip and it finally began to come off.Slide7
Tang
As you can see the tang is quite badly bent upwards which caused the difficulty in removing the grip.
It was quite rusty and so I cleaned it with spray oil.
I then managed to straighten the tang in a vice and gently bend it back.Slide8
Grip Wire Removal
The grip wire was removed by pulling it out with a small bladed screwdriver.
The ferrule ring was removed from the bottom of the grip.Slide9
Grip Leather Removal
The grip leather was then removed.
I found the best way was to soak it in very hot soapy water which softened the glue.
As you can see it came off in one piece and this uncovered the quality wood core.Slide10
Scabbard Screw Removal
Next it was time to remove the scabbard screws.
These had been here since day 1 and were a pain to remove.
Again plenty of spray oil and after damaging 2 screwdrivers, I managed with the 3
rd
by rotating them left and right before fully unscrewing.
They were saved on a card for later.Slide11
Scabbard Fitting Removal
The upper and lower fittings were then removed but were pretty tight in place and required a little persuasion to remove them.
You can then see the original workmanship under the fittings where the leather is ‘shaved’ so that the fittings will fit over it.Slide12
Scabbard Runner Removal
Once the fittings have been removed the scabbard internal runners can be pulled out by hand (they just slide out).
These are the parts that hold the blade in place when it is inserted in the scabbard.
These were later cleaned to prevent further scratching to the blade.Slide13
Grip Leather Application
The grip leather was then applied.
This is a very tricky process as you have to cut the piece with curved sides as the grip is wider in the middle and attempt to get the seam on the side.
The original grip wire was too short with the new leather applied so new wire was added.Slide14
Scabbard Shell
I then rubbed down the
aluminium
scabbard shell to remove the old glue.
There were a couple of dents near the bottom so these were filled and sanded down.Slide15
Scabbard Leather
The scabbard leather was then fixed to the shell using spray glue.
This again is tricky and you have to attempt to get the seam on the side.Slide16
Thread Clean Up
Before re assembling I always like to clean up the tang thread and scabbard fitting holes.
This is done with a tap and die set.
The pommel was also done with a tap.
The scabbard screws were then put back in.Slide17
END RESULTSlide18
END RESULT cont…....
Very happy with the end result and certainly an improvement !!!
www.germandaggerscrews.co.uk