No desire to re-heat treat the blade, since I’m interested in what’s left of the original heat treating and it feels like that would be a final insult to this blade which has already had a tough life. The hilt could get some surface-level help, but not ‘til after the blade is in better shape. I don’t think I’ll disassemble the grip, which will limit the scope of work on that area.
A photo essay sounds like a good idea, though this isn’t a front-burner project so it might go on for a while! The final result will be far short of the blade’s former glory, though, it is too far gone to be more than a shadow of its original self. I’m thinking of splitting the difference between a conservation and restoration, restoring it back to a possibly imaginary point just before it fell into the hands of people unaware of basic sword care – but there is a lot of deep rust and other damage that will remain.
I used a manual press to remove the bends and ripples, since it has good control at the high force levels needed to take out that curve. There were also a lot of bends, so it was helpful in isolating them one by one. I held the blade against a flat surface and marked where it touched, then used blocks of wood at those points to transmit the force in the right direction.
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