First Post and a bayonet question

[gergbee]

Hi,

I have what I believe to be a French bayonet from WW I. My wife's grandfather brought it back with him and we ended up with it.

I see there's some paint on the handle and a fair amount of rust. I know I shouldn't try to make it gleaming or anything but should it be lightly cleaned to try to remove the paint and the rust or should it just be left alone?

I've included some photos, they are not great quality but it'll give you an idea of what it is.

Thanks,

Greg



You can see the paint on the handle

[Eric Zentner]

Welcome to the forum I like the the look of the lebel bayo's I think some light cleaning would be fine.
Here is a link for you that may answer your quistions about cleaning Restoration & Refurbishing
Eric

[gergbee]

Thanks,

Any suggestions on how to clean it or what to clean it with?

[Eric Zentner]

Click the link that I added in my post it will help------ Restoration & Refurbishing----

[gergbee]

Sorry, I should have been more clear with my question. I was asking if you had any personal experience. I saw some threads there and I don't want to clean it was well as some did.

[Eric Zentner]

This will open a plethora of differnt opinions on how to do it so I will let the other guys chime in on that.

Eric

[jarrenb]

If it was me I would not try to clean it too much to the point where it looks polished and new. Its current condition seems to back up if not add to the story of the item, being consistent with what you would expect of something that was found amongst the mud in WW1.

The only thing you could look into is a way of stabilising the rust so the item doesn't continue to deteriorate. But unfortunately I can't help you with that.

[gergbee]

I certainly don't want to clean it much. Mostly I want to get the paint off of it. I don't know how it happened but it looks like there's house paint on the handle and part of the crossguard (not sure of the term). As you said, stabilizing the rust would be great so I'd like to do that as well.

[Eric Zentner]

The dab of paint on the handle, I would use a Q-tip diped in fingernail polish remover or equivalent and slowly remove it in a circular motion IMO.

Eric

[lithgow]

It's a Lebel M1886 spike bayo for the long infantry M1886 Lebel and M1907/15/16 Berthier rifles-there are many variations and lengths of blade for different models of this bayo but yours is the original type-it was nicknamed 'Rosalie' by French troops.