Tips on cleaning up a P'07 Bayonet

[pedro243]

I recently bought a 1918 P'07 bayonet. One side of the blade has an excellent mirror finish while the other side is shiny but has black rust blemishes over the whole blade.

I was wondering what the best way is to remove these blemishes and made it as shiny as the other side. I would also prefer not to remove too much material from the blade.

Information

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[Peter Laidler]

The blades should be a satin-coarse sandblasted finish. But when phosphating became the norm, they were phosphated grey. Other armies may differ but that's what we had

[pedro243]

Didn't Australia produce bayonet's with blued blades in WW2?


Do you have any tips if how i can get rid of the blemishes on my blade?

[Peter Laidler]

I don't know how to get rid of blemishes except that to get rid of any blemish means removing steel. And removing steel, by definition, alters the contour too. In the days of No5's,7's, 9's and L1 bayonets we always had some rusty scabby old bayonets and even rustier scabby old scabbards too. If that was the case, they went through the bead blasting and phosphating finish, same as anything else. The rust and pit MARKS remained but the bayonets were perfectly serviceable, ready to last another 30 years. Under the grips, some of them were absolutely minging. (that's another REME technical phrase all budding Armourers soon learned. As in 'what the xxxx do you call that...... it's xxxxing minging'). That how it was done in real life where appearance didn't count so much as serviceability.

That's how we did it, same as we do today except that the current bayonets don't seem to rust like the L1 types. The tips don't even break off now do they Skippy?

[Sht_LE]

Depending on when the bayonet was made there were four standard finishes:
1) Bright (polished blade with blued crosspiece and pommel)
2) Bead blasted, Sandblasted and Shot blasted finish (dull/rough) all three blasting media were used depending on the time period
3) Blued blade (smooth blue - black)
4) "Parkerized" finish (dull)
You will also occasional run into a Chromed/Nickle finish for parade bayonets (this finish was normal applied later).
Before 1915 the bright high polished blade was the standard. Post 1915 wartime blades used a dull bead blasted finish to eliminate the reflective quality of the blade as light reflecting off of fixed bayonets tended to attract unwanted attention from the enemy. If you look, US 1905 bayonets and German Mauser bayonets from this period also went from a bright polish to a dull finish for the same reasons. Starting in early 1919 the British reverted to the bright polish as a War Office memo dated 25th June, 1919, states "Please arrange for the sandblasting of repaired and new bayonets, if any, to cease as early as possible, and for the blades, in future, to be polished." (Skennerton and Richardson 1984. British and Commonwealth Bayonets p192) The Blued blades were primarily Lithgow production and WW2 vintage Ishapore production. The Parkerized and bead blasted and Sandblasted blades finish was used in England in WW2 and sandblasted reverted to after the war. Then that was again changed to Parkerizing, or as Peter says phosphating. Being 1918 dated your bayonet would originally have had a sandblasted finish, but could have been "repaired" and bright polished after the war. To "clean" it you will have to remove some metal, but its not that hard to do. A friend of mine, Jim Maddox, a Charter Member and currently a Director of the Society of American Bayonet Collectors and author of "Collecting Bayonets" (he knows a little about them) taught me a couple of tricks that work very well. The best way to "fix" your bayonet would be to look at the grain of the polish. The little lines running the length of the blade. Then get a good quality emery cloth that is the same grit to match the "grain" of your bayonet. Then use a little oil or water on the cloth "polish" the rough side of the blade to match the rest. You will only want to go the length of the blade, starting at the hilt and running all the way through to the tip of the blade to keep the polish matching. Do this a little at a time, and it is always best to stop right at the point were you are thinking "just a few more passes will do". Better to stop too soon than too late. This is a very safe method and removes very little metal. It has produced very good results for me on bayonets that have had bad rust spots or worse yet run afoul of an idiot with a bench grinder. If you want some good info on the P.07 I would recommend the CD available on this website: BAyonet Collection Presentation
Hope this info helps.

[pedro243]

Cheers for that.

It seems like it has had the bright finish. A few friends have suggested using a little bit of oil and some steel wood. Either way, when i get a chance after uni exams ill give it a shot.