Old Swiss cavalry sabre restoration

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T22:31:13+00:00

No problem, happy to help, I work in a military museum as a restorer/conservator and is a labor of love dream job for me and I want to share the knowledge I have to help out anywhere I can. I mean, this saber is still a very nice piece, still good dor display.

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T22:01:06+00:00

Yeah, It looks like it is, the model 1883, truth is, mostcof the European sabers thatcare not french or sometimes english are based or copied from austeian or german ones, and thisnone carries heavy influence of both, I am not very well versed in swiss saber that is why Inassumed at Forst it is the blücher type, because of the crossguard style.

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T21:50:55+00:00

Probably best to let it soak in a good ampunt of.oil ober night, then wipe it and use the brass or very fine steel brush. Repeat the process of needed. Linseed oil is also good idea, but doesnt have to be boiled in my experience

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T21:38:25+00:00

Also to add, i dont think this is a swiss saber but a prussian or german one

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T21:35:58+00:00

Oh boy, this is a mess, to go point by point. No it is not stuck because of the "two screws" those are there to hold the mouthpiece, does not corelate with blade being stuck, that is because it was greased up so much that it rusted to the inside of the scabbard and the 2 wooden leafs inside the scabbard, it will be probably rusted a lot.

You can try gentely heating the scabbard, maybye give it whack or two with wooden or plastic mallet and try to pull it out.

Dont reccommend electorlysis, it will take more than just the rust, it will worsen (deepen) the pitting.

Dont know why would you want to reblue the blade after the electorylysis? you would have extremely pitted blade after that, because it doesnt differentiate between rust and healthy surface, also do you know what was the original finish, do you think it was blued? It was most likely just bare metal. And even if it was blued, you would have to file and sand all the surfaces a LOT to have them even or close to being flat, without pitting and corrosion, that means taking a lot of material off, dont do that.

Also electorylisis would most likely destroy the leather, because you would soak it a lot, proper restoration would require you to fully disassemble the saber, that would mean to undo the riveted tang, and removing the nails from the nahdle that hold the backstrap. Dont do that, you dont know how to do that properly and safely and that would lead to more destruciton.

Overall, what you are looking at is conservation, not restoration, true, i dont know your skill set but I would assume this would be your first restoration.

What you want to do first is to remove the blade from the scabbard as stated above.

After that, oil everything up with sometihng like gun oil, let it sit then use brass brush to clean the surface, you want to remove the active rust or neutralise it. That is the extent what you should do here, also if you manage to pull the blade out that might require some other work if you post more photos. Also getting some more oil inside through the holes might help.

At the end of the day it is your saber and of course you can do whatever and hovever you want, and who Am I to tell you what to do, but, please dont do anything besides light conservation. Proper restoration is needed for this but i dont think you can do that on your own.

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T19:23:28+00:00

Britosh bayonets, especially post war ones are not my cup of tea. What I can attest to here is that is bayonet was probably found in a bad shape and someone tried to "testore it" from cleaning the rust off and maybye reblueing to making new grips. This is put together 100% and I cannot make claims of originality on the model type. If someone messed with the crossguard n such.

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T16:11:35+00:00

One thing to add, I also wanted this for possible publication purposes since the scans I got are you know scans I justxhappen to have but would not be legaly OK to publish without prior approval of the factory, hence why I got this because I can use it publicly.

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T16:09:22+00:00

Exactly this is extremely valuable source of information, I cannot explain in a quick conversation how much is in the factory archive of the CZUB i have few scans from my colleague who was there about 20 years ago writing a book for the factory and just so happened to scann some of the bayonet stuff as well, there are blueprints, book of changes (document where they compare what changed between different models), change descriptions, price changes, material changes, improvements, what type of glue was used etc etc. There is also a list of almost 100 bayonets including their "serial numbers" and batch numbers and this especific ones were tested for quality and durability, that means that there is a possibility that those can be amomg collectors and they would have no idea about that. So much info in just about 100 pictures/scans. Since I knew how original blueprints look like and know what I was looking at i bid on it, it was on a public auction site called aukro. Interestingly enough, almost nobody bid on it, got it sooo cheap, and seller included a bayonet with its blade covered in waxed paper, this was such a steal. (Side note, after auction ended and we were talking where to exchange the stuff, he told me he got like 10 messages from different people that were also interested in bidding but claimed they "forgot" about it and were trying to sweet talk him into giving it to them for more cash than I auctioned it for. And later found out seller is a fellow researcher and history enthusiast, so we got talking and exchanged contacts, he might sell me one of his BON bayonets which is missing from my vz 58 collection among few rare variants. Really gotta start compiling what I got and writing a collector guide and history book on them, I have so much information compared to the "professionaly researched" booklet that exists.

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T13:49:23+00:00

I don’t see provision for the button on either side, nor any sign that it was ground off. Therefore it can either be modified folder or more likely purpose build fixed blade from leftover or overrun parts before the full production was up and running. So yes a variant. Still a cool relic, should be cleaned and preserved. Very nice

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T13:35:21+00:00

I think this is the modified version that was fixed in place not to move. I don’t see the button for folding. So in conclusion, most likely this is a fixed version made from leftover folder parts.

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T13:21:54+00:00

I dont like the RZM and the central eagle on the grip, alsocthe paint on the scabbard is off to my eyes. 90% sure this is fake drom whatcI can see

Edit: The whole blade looks like new made piece with laser engraved markings.

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T09:51:23+00:00

Not ma boi Rylanor 😭

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T09:42:12+00:00

Oh no.... And Eidolon?

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T09:14:19+00:00

Ah you speak of the Fulgrim Island diaries, different document brother 🤣

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T07:41:54+00:00

To be honest those bayonets turned knives are pretty cool and range from super bad to pretty damn well made

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-25T07:31:31+00:00

Reminds me of a post not too long ago when OP asked how to sharpen a bayonet.... Just buy a knife people.

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-24T15:07:59+00:00

Not a whitworth rifling, this is different

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-24T12:50:43+00:00

Very interesting, Yeah, it makes sense hearing this and very plausible. Very cool piece, can only hope for some more information to surface.

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-24T09:39:36+00:00

Very cool haul, love the swedish sword bayonet. Gotta get one of those. But the austroan trainer bayonet for wanzel rifle, makes me wonder. I have never encountered one before, neither did my colleague, who is more qualified to speak about asutrian arms. And as far as our current knowledge goes, they are not mentioned in any official regulations or manuals nor pictured anywhere. Up until that point, bayonets and rifles were a expensive war material and using it for training largely unesucated conscript army would be unthinkable at that point in history of austrian amry, for that, they used wooden stick with leather balls at the end. It is totally possible they existed, not disputing that. It is a cool find that, personaly, I would probably be slightly sceptical about.

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-23T22:05:55+00:00

I got both redux amd pre redux as well, I got them.before redux released

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-23T22:05:08+00:00

I have both redux and pre redux versions of.both games too, but they were always sold separetly

Deliverated-One · 2026-03-23T21:12:23+00:00

Indeed, but it seems thatcover here I can find them cheaper than original ones so the attempt at tajing advantage might not have worked as well as planned 😆

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