An Example of Water Damage From a Wet Saya

[Bruce Pennington]

Bought this Type 95 at auction (same group I got bit by with the fake 98). The blade has permanent black stains. When I asked Neil about it, he said it's likely tanin stains coming out of the wooden liner.

 

So I got curious and opened up the saya and removed the liner. Sure enough, the wood was wet to the touch. There were rust stains IN THE WOOD! The end of the liner was the worst, and you could see that water (don't know if pooled oils could do this?) had settled to the bottom of the saya, soaking the wood, moistening the tanins, which then stained the steel.

 

I've lightly sanded the corroded portions of the liner and am currently drying the liner as well as the empty saya.

 

Thought I'd share this, along with pics for everyone else in case you have gunto sayas that may be damaging your blades.

[ChrisW]

Thanks for sharing this information Bruce! Time to double check my blades.

[16k]

I’m curious, Bruce. Is it easy to remove the liner without destroying the metal saya?

[Dave R]

 Just a pointer here. Don't use sandpaper, scrape with a craft blade or use a file. It probably does not matter in this case, but one grain of abrasive left in the saya can/will scratch the blade every time it is drawn or sheathed.

[Dave R]

I’m curious, Bruce. Is it easy to remove the liner without destroying the metal saya?

 

 I have done it a time or two. Undo the two retaining screws  on the koi-guchi which can then be removed, and the liners will then come out with greater or lesser ease. It becomes more of a problem if the saya is dented.

 

 Most metal scabbards with liners are like this, including the Western ones.

[16k]

Thanks Dave, I didn’t know it was that simple.

[vajo]

The problem ist the wetness cant go out of the saya if the sword is inside.

 

But you can safe the wood after you remove it out of the saya. Like Bruce said. Let it complete dry some days. Than sand it slightly inside. Than glue it together. Of there are openings you can made a paste from sawdust and woodglue, to close the openings. And wait after glueing one or two days. Clean the inside of the metal saya. I took a long stick with selfmade brushes from steel wool. After that clean it with Isopropanol. You can if you like put inside decorroder for some hours to stop rust.

 

Btw the blade looks not bad Bruce after staing in water! 

[b.hennick]

Sanding will leave particles of sand in the saya that will scratch the blade

[Bruce Pennington]

Thanks Dave & Barry, didn't think of that! I'll be sure to rub the wood down after dry to make sure it's free of grit.

 

JP, the 95 saya has just the one screw to remove the throat. Most of the time, the wood slides right out, but mine was wet and stuck. I had to invert my saya and tap the opening on a piece of wood on my workbench to bring the wood down to the edge. The wood can be real brittle sometimes, but this set was thick and strong (maybe because it was wet), so I was able to pinch one side between 2 flat-head screw drivers and pull slowly.

 

Chris, nice tips, thanks!

[Kmad]

Hi All,

 

For cleaning inside of scabbards I use brazing rods with brass or bronze wool 2 or 3 mm rods are perfect

 

You can bend the brass to hold the cleaning wool firm to the rod

 

Use brass rods because they are softer than steel rods and they have some good flexibility.

 

I also use bronze rather than steel wool as it will not scratch steel but will remove rust

 

Regards

 

Ken

[Ganko]

If you have the liner out, it is better to scrape the inside of it with a blade than use sandpaper.