A stand
Horizontal under the blade or vertical under the grip. What matters is that the sword rests on something soft and touches no metal.
Care
How to look after a sword so it outlives you
Spring and carbon steel — what serious swords are made of — rusts. That is not a defect but the price of the hardness and springiness stainless cannot give. All of maintenance comes down to three things: keep it dry, keep a thin film of oil on it, keep it out of the scabbard.
The first half hour
A sword arrives protected for transport — usually under a layer of thick grease, sometimes in oiled paper. Take all of it off: paper towel first, and if the grease has set, cotton wool with a little white spirit or alcohol.
Only on clean, degreased steel can you see what you actually bought. Look along the blade against the light from both sides, hunting for scratches, pitting and bends. Check the guard for play and whether the grip turns on the tang. This is the moment to raise a claim, not in three months.
Then put your own film of oil on it. From here the sword is yours, and what happens to that steel is on you.
Worth knowing
Medieval scabbards had a wooden core lined with sheepskin or fleece — wool turned inwards. Lanolin, the natural grease in wool, oiled the blade every time it was drawn and sheathed. The scabbard was not just a case: it was part of the maintenance, renewing itself with use.
Modern scabbards are lined with tanned leather and no fleece, so they do the opposite — they hold moisture against the steel. Hence the rule nobody needed to state in the Middle Ages: a sword lives on a stand, not in its scabbard.
Rhythm
Four habits and nothing more
After every handling
Wipe the blade with a dry cloth
Sweat is acidic and salty. A fingerprint left overnight can etch a permanent dull mark into a polished surface.
Every 3–6 weeks
A thin film of oil
A few drops spread along the whole length with a cloth. The film should be thin enough that the steel still looks dry — excess only collects dust.
Every six months
Check the hilt
See whether the pommel still holds without play, whether the grip turns on the tang, whether the wrap is lifting. A loose hilt caught in time is nothing; ignored, it is a repair.
After any damp
Dry it and oil it at once
Rain at a show, mist outdoors, a damp cellar. Water on carbon steel starts working in hours, not days.
Products
What to use, and what never to use
Mineral (paraffin) oil
The cheapest option and entirely sufficient. Sold in pharmacies as liquid paraffin. Odourless, does not go rancid, harmless to scabbard leather.
Camellia oil (tsubaki)
The classic of Japanese sword care, now used on any steel. Very thin, soaks into the cloth and leaves a film measured in microns.
Microcrystalline wax
The most durable protection for a sword that hangs and is rarely touched. The coat lasts for months. Developed for museum conservation and still used there.
Aerosol penetrating sprays
They displace water but evaporate, and after a few weeks protect nothing. Fine for dissolving old grease. Not fine as a protective film.
Olive oil and other kitchen oils
They go rancid. After a few months they leave a sticky, acidic layer that does more harm than good.
Storage
- Out of the scabbard. A scabbard is for carrying. Day to day the sword sits on a stand or hangs on the wall, with the scabbard beside it.
- Away from damp. Around 40–50% humidity is safe. A cellar, a garage and a north-facing external wall are the three worst places in a house.
- Not touching metal. Rest it on leather, felt or wood. Two different metals in damp air form a cell and corrosion speeds up.
- Never in a foam case. Foam absorbs water and holds it against the steel for weeks.
When rust shows up
- Orange bloom. 0000 steel wool or an oiled cork, worked along the blade without pressure. Gone in minutes.
- Black spots. That is pitting — the steel there has been eaten away. You can polish it out, but a shallow dip stays. Better to stop the process than chase a perfect surface.
- Always cold. By hand, patiently, with oil. Any tool that heats the steel ruins the temper and takes the springiness out of the blade.
- Oil it afterwards. Freshly exposed steel corrodes more readily than steel with a patina.
The don't list
Five things that ruin swords
- 01
Do not store a sword in its scabbard — it is the most common cause of the pitting we see.
- 02
Do not attack rust with an angle grinder or a high-speed wheel. Steel tempered at 200 °C loses hardness at a far lower temperature than people expect, and a heated edge never comes back.
- 03
Do not clean a blade with chlorine products or in a dishwasher. Chlorides are a crash course in pitting corrosion.
- 04
Do not test sharpness with a finger across the edge. Along it, lightly, with the pad — or simply on a sheet of paper.
- 05
Do not cut anything with a display replica. A sword with a soft tang or an unhardened edge was not built for it, and it can let go at the hilt on impact.
Accessories
What is actually worth having
Oil and a cloth
Microfibre or cotton without dressing. Keep one cloth for oil and another for wiping — the second picks up filings fast.
Cotton gloves
They solve the fingerprint problem at source. Particularly useful when guests want to look at the sword.
Scabbard and belt
For carrying, not for storage. A well-fitted one holds the blade by friction at the throat, with no catches.
A stone or hone
Only for swords with a sharp edge. A display replica does not need one, and sharpening will not turn it into a cutting weapon.
We do not stock every one of these — if something is missing from the shop, write to us. We will tell you what makes sense for your particular sword, even if you buy it elsewhere.