Need help restoring this bayonet

The scabbard is too far gone.

The blade would clean up with some evap-o-rust and 000 steel wool.

The guard is also very far gone. But give it the same treatment as the blade. It will be a pitted mess when you're done.

The pommel looks to be somewhere between the blade and guard rust-wise.

When you're done, coat it in a light oil like 3-in-1. You'll need to reapply oil occasionally.

I don't knoe what the handle is made out of. Bakelite? It's probably bakelite. I'm not sure what it does and doesn't react with. Clean it with soapy water and a tooth brush.

>>1040563
Additional thoughts:

Resist the urge to use anything more abrasive than a wire brush on this.

Using some fine steel wool and just oiling it is the best way to handle this project. It will never be perfect, embrace it for what it is.

>>1040563
I've been trying to figure out what the handle is made of with no luck. This thing is late 1890s, early 1900s so there's not many things the handle could be made of. I'm willing to give up on the scabbard since it's deformed on top of being rusty, however I'd like to save the handle. It doesn't seem like the rust went too deep on the handle. It's not flaking or anything. I'll follow your advice and see where that takes me. Thank you.

>>1040565
I was initially thinking of using the green part of the dish washing sponge, but you're right. Nothing more abrasive than wire brush or fine steel wool.

As for the condition I'm looking to achieve, I don't need this to be pristine. I just want to preserve it in a way so that my kids could inherit it one day and pass it down.

>>1040567
Scrub it with some brillo and soap. That will give you a good idea of what is going on. I would actually step up to scotch brite (the maroon stuff is what I use). You'll be surprised how much you can get done like that. Make sure you tape up the handle until you're ready to work on it.

Get the surface rust off that you can and keep it oiled.

>>1040568
Thank you for the info brother, hopefully I'll manage to save it.

>>1040556
using Electolysis to remove the rust will do the least damage (google).

Chemical methods (evaop-rust, diluted vinegar) are second place.

Don't do any of the scrubbing other anons recomended. It will easily ruin it.

Most important - whatever the method, practice on scrap first!

holy shit that guy, before you touch it with anything abrasive, just dissolve the rust in citric acid first

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First do an electrolysis bath to remove all rust including the pits where the wire brush won't reach. Here's a bath I did for a cast iron armrest that came off a bench. You'll need a piece of sacrificial metal, in this case I used an old brake drum.

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>>1040638
To make the solution use Arm and Hammer super washing soda. You'll find this on the laundry isle of your grocery store. Ratio is one tablespoon per gallon

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>>1040640
Turn on the battery charger like you're charging a normal car battery (not the trickle charge). Be careful how you hook it up. Negative side goes to what you want the rust removed from. Positive side goes to what you want the rust to move to. Remember positive = more rust. It'll bubble and shit and start removing the rust. I left mine for 24 hours I think, I don't recall exactly. It can't hurt.

>>1040640
Will any kind of washing soda do? I live in Europe.

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>>1040642
Assuming you hooked it up correctly the rust will come off and move over to the positive terminal.

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>>1040644
It's gonna look like this when it comes out. The metal will have black stuff that needs to be wire brushed off

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>>1040645
Now you carefully wire brush everything and the base metal will start to show up. The whole point of the electrolysis bath is to remove rust from any pits so it doesn't come back. Since it's a family item it's worth doing all of this. Be careful with that handle, I can't tell if it's wooden or something. If it is you might consider removing it first, perhaps even rebuilding it later.

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>>1040647
Continuing from this here's an old machete my father-in-law gave me. It was super rusty

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>>1040649
I hit it with a wire brush but it's pitted so idk how long the rust will stay at bay. If I gave two shits I would've done in electrolysis bath. But since it's just a cheapo machete I decided to just wire brush it then sand it cuz fuck it.

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>>1040651
Here's the finished product. I think I did 220, 400, 1000, then 2000 grit sand paper steps. I just used a regular electric palm sander and went gently. Since it was heavily pitted I knew it wasn't gonna come out perfect. I would have to sand the metal big time to get to the pits and the blade would have ended up super thin. Still, way better than it was. I used my Dremmel with a sharpening bit to give it the edge and called it a day.

>>1040643
Yeah probably so. Just make sure you use washing soda. Not baking soda or baking powder or anything.

>>1040638
>>1040640
>>1040642
>>1040644
>>1040645
>>1040647
>>1040649
>>1040651
>>1040654
>>1040655
Thank you for taking the time to write all of this and upload the pics. I think I'll give electrolysis a go especially since I have the battery charger, and coincidentally some brake discs that I don't need. The handle is not wood, but it's definitely not plastic. The pins that hold it in place are almost completely rusted, so I'm not sure how I can remove it. That's something I'll have to figure out. Once again, thank you for all of this. I pretty much got my work cut out.

You know, if you fuck with it, even rust removal (or perhaps, especially rust removal) you will lose a lot of collector's value, being that collectors like things in whatever condition history and time have left it in. Maybe you don't care about that kind of thinking and just want to make it look nice, but I think this is still worth mentioning.

>>1040685
There's literally millions of these bayonets though. They were military surplus almost a hundred years ago.

>>1040685
I'm not looking to sell this thing, so collector's value isn't the most important thing on my mind. On the other hand, I definitely don't want to ruin it by 'making it look nice' so I'm looking for a compromise of some sorts.
>>1040691
You're right, there are probably millions of these all over the place, but this is the one my great gramps fought two wars with, retreated to Greece thru harshest Albanian mountains during the winter, only to retake the country in following years.

>>1040654
Whatever you do, do not use sandpaper on it.

>>1040556
Bayonet looks like an M1870 Werndl, its grips are probably made out of hardened leather and shaped to fit, a lot of them also got replaced with wood over the years. The bolsters and socket are also steel so any rust treatment on those would be fine, but not real sure how you'd get the grips off it.

The scabbard is also missing the top leather sheath which also would have hooked onto a belt and I 'think' it would have also had a leather covering over it. Contrary to others, the scabbard probably could be salvaged at least to the point it will no longer corrode.

>>1040872
Hm, in that case it's a battlefield pickup he brought home as a trophy. I did some digging and apparently leather doesn't react well to electrolysis. The problem is, I'm not sure how to remove the pins as they are heavily corroded. I might give it a shot and try to force them out.

>>1040922
Steel cutlery rivets like those are sort of like a concrete ramset bolt- one use only
Getting them out, would involve taking the grips off and then murdering them with a hacksaw or dremel, you can get replacement ones which would do the job and it'd also be a bit of a guess as to the metals condition under there so don't use too much brute force or you might make things worse.

Depends on how you're going to restore it really, to original condition or sort of doing a complete makeover with modern materials. You can selectively work on it either way to stabilise the rust on the blade and then manually removing the rust off the fittings. Leather that old I've got no real idea how you'd keep it- though to be fair for something thats 140-150 years old its actually in remarkable condition really!

>>1040925
I'm considering getting rid of the grips and just making a wooden set as a replacement. The leather is so hard and mature that it literally feels and looks like plastic.

My goal is to restore it to a presentable condition, if that makes any sense. I was thinking of building a nice frame with velvet cutout for the bayonet and the scabbard if I manage to salvage it. Hang the whole thing on the wall and maintain it from time to time. I'm not that worried about removing the rivets as much as I am worried about replacing them. The metal below the blade is rusted, but it doesn't appear to be deep rust so I think it's still pretty strong.

>>1040927
Ok then, get them off and remove the rivets.
Lots of different timbers you can use, though olive wood seems fitting if you're Greek :)
(plus its fucking tough)

Once the rust is all off you can clean it up, get some more rivets from somewhere like Briza if you don't have any locally and then peen them in, resurface the grip with abrasives and a coat of oil over the steel bits. 3-1 Oil I've found does a good job on preserving, though some people swear on museum wax for static stuff too.

>>1040931
Serbian, but close enough ^^
I have a very old piece of walnut that I've been saving to make a rifle stock one of these days. I was thinking of making the grips out of that since I won't need to use a lot of wood. Ordering rivets online is an option, I just have to figure out the diameter I need for this thing. I'd like to keep everything as stock as possible in terms of dimensions.

>>1040936
Yep walnut is pretty easy to work and live with, if you're after long term stability I'd recommend using a liner between the wood and metal.
So you sandwich it with epoxy on the metal, G10 liner, epoxy and then wood. It just forms a good barrier between them to keep moisture away.

>>1040939
Not a bad idea, I'll keep that in mind. I might toss the whole thing into the electrolysis bath and let it cook for several hours. If the grips disintegrate, better from since I won't have to remove them by force. Then it's just the matter of finding the materials you just listed, and building new grips.

>>1040638
>>1040640
>>1040642
>>1040644
charger with at least ???mA

>>1040948
The charger has an option for 15amp or 3 amp, I did the 15 amp. There's also an option for standard, GEL, or AMG batteries so I selected standard. Just like charging a regular car battery with a normal car charger, don't overthink it.

I've used the vinegar bath to restore bmx frames.
It works surprisingly well and is slow acting (sort of) so it doesn't do too much too fast and eat away everything before you know what's happening.

>>1041268
I thought about using vinegar, but it seems to be too invasive for what I'm trying to do.

>>1040556

take it to a pro. if you have to ask how to restore it, you will destroy it, even if you received proper directions.

>>1041350
Try molasses.

>>1041370
This.

>>1041380
>>1041350

Molasses is the only way to dip it without eating at anything not already oxidised.