Yataghan for comments and advice

Tatyana Dianova · 16th April 2013, 07:32 AM

Hi Russel,
Nice catch! From my experience, the fittings and blade decoration are typical Balkan, middle 19th century.
The condition is pretty good and the repairs are quite simple. Moving ears is a common yataghan problem, if it bothers you, you can put a drop of adhesive to fix them. The same with bolster: use two components adhesive to fix it back. The red stones are red coral. There are two round stones missing on the bolster on the blade, there should be red or green glass cabochons.
To clean the blade I would use very fine (1000) steel wool with oil, except gold decorated area. There you can use some rust remover like Flitz (you can use it also on the whole blade, if you do not want to use a steel wool). Afterwards use a Renaissance Wax for conservation and display. I would avoid etching on the blade – I do not think there is a pattern to show.
To straighten the blade you can make a simple device (two wood planks) the Japanese use to straighten their blades, but you should find the details for yourself – I have no personal experience doing it.

16th April 2013, 07:32 AM	#5
Tatyana Dianova Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 735	Hi Russel, Nice catch! From my experience, the fittings and blade decoration are typical Balkan, middle 19th century. The condition is pretty good and the repairs are quite simple. Moving ears is a common yataghan problem, if it bothers you, you can put a drop of adhesive to fix them. The same with bolster: use two components adhesive to fix it back. The red stones are red coral. There are two round stones missing on the bolster on the blade, there should be red or green glass cabochons. To clean the blade I would use very fine (1000) steel wool with oil, except gold decorated area. There you can use some rust remover like Flitz (you can use it also on the whole blade, if you do not want to use a steel wool). Afterwards use a Renaissance Wax for conservation and display. I would avoid etching on the blade – I do not think there is a pattern to show. To straighten the blade you can make a simple device (two wood planks) the Japanese use to straighten their blades, but you should find the details for yourself – I have no personal experience doing it.