You must treat your sword with respect and patience because it could be a dangerous weapon. In addition, to keep it look brand new for many years to come, proper care and maintenance should be taken.
Cautions
Never play under the wall where sword is hung. It is safe and important to keep out of reach of children.
Never swing any sword carelessly. It could slip out of your hands and endanger yourself or others around you.
Never bang your sword against hard object. It doesn’t matter how tough or strong the sword is, it will nick when struck against something hard.
Don’t attempt to use decorative sword as functional sword for practice or use it to chop down a tree. This will certainly result in damaging your sword because it could warp, bend, possibly break or cause serious injure.
Inspection at Reception
When you receive the parcel, please open the box carefully in case the knife cuts or scratches on the sword inside. The sword always comes to you with light anti-rust oil or a heavy coat of grease to protect the blades during transcontinental transport. The oil can be removed by using cotton or gauze soaked in benzene (finger nail polish remover), pure alcohol or powdering. You may use a solvent such as lacquer thinner or mineral spirits to remove the grease.
When the surface is thoroughly cleaned, check for the presence of rust, flaws and other damages. Please report to us if you found.
Once you have finished this, apply your light coat of oil or a silicone spray. You can also wipe it with a silicone coated gun/reel cloth for storage or display.
Rust Prevention & Removal
All exposed steel will want to rust. Touching any exposed steel, especially stainless steel, with your bare fingers will leave acid, oil and salt that will corrode blade and eventually leave pits. The best way to avoid this is not to touch the blade and to wipe off the blade if it is touched. Inspect the sword at least annually to check for new rusty areas. If surface rusting occurs, it can be removed with 600 grit or finer wet/dry sandpaper and some lightweight gun oil, carnuba-based car wax or a spray lacquer. However an excessive amount of oil must also be avoided here.
You can also use olive oil, fine steel wool, sword cleaning kit or Nev-R-Dull on it. Nev-R-Dull removes light surface rust and dirt, and is safe to use. It is oily feeling and leaves a slight residue on anything it is rubbed against. Rub the rusty area with a small piece and then wipe it off. Just be careful and go slow using acid. Start with some mild household acids e.g. lemon juice first and then vinegar. It may take a few days, but check it periodically.
Regardless of method, cleaning has its risks. Proceed with caution. Improper use or attention may damage your blades and/or their temper.
Blade Coatings
Steel blades must be protected from moisture at all times. It will appreciate regular coats of a clear, non-organic oil, light oil such as sewing machine oil or gun oil. Oil should be changed regularly by wiping the blade with a soft cloth until dry, then applying more.
Cosmoline and grease are often used but there may be microscopic pits in the blade.
Another option is to apply a wax coating. Carnauba wax (like on your car) is often used, but cannot comment to its long term effects. You might want to check your local automotive store to ask about which wax is best on steel.
The final viable option is a clear varnish. Del Tin, a maker of medieval replica swords, puts a coat of varnish on their sword blades. Please make sure there are no fingerprints or specks of dust on the blade first, or else they will eat into the blade from beneath the coating.
Sword care tools must be kept perfectly clean, for dust stuck on the wiping cloth or oiling paper could cause scratches on the steel surface.
Sword Display & Storage
The sword should be displayed safely, and not damaged by being hung on a wall mount. Always check the hooks or the sword guard if they are crooked and the sword is firmly hung to prevent falling down. As time goes by, wood or metal hooks and sword guard may be eventually fatigued with gravity force, especially for heavy sword. In high humidity areas, it is best to keep your sword stored in a sealed case with enough desiccants to keep the humidity beneath about 30% to hinder rust. For long term storage, you could use a sword and place a few packages of desiccant in with the sword to keep humidity down.
Never let children touch the sword, they will destroy a sword in a fraction of the time it takes rust.
Handle and Scabbard Care
Wire wrapped handles should always be covered with a light coating of oil or a micro-crystalline wax to prevent rust and corrosion. You may also want to wipe it with a silicone coated gun/reel cloth.
Wooden Handles should be treated with a light coating of lemon oil, tung oil or micro-crystalline wax to help prevent cracking.
Leather scabbards, sheaths and covered handles should be treated with a good leather paste wax or micro-crystalline wax. The scabbard can also be treated with neatsfoot or mink oil for waterproofing, although this is not recommended for gripping surfaces. Do not store your sword in its scabbard for long periods of time since the leather traps moisture, which can produce rust spots on the blade.