i found my grandfather's 1903 bayonet in the basement.  i wanna clean it up a bit.  the blade itself is in pretty good shape, considering.  but the scabbard (right word?  i'm not up on my bayonet-ese)has got a good covering of surface rust.  anyone know any products that will help me clean it up without harming anything (on the bayo or my skin)?

thanks,
ARlady

Try some muriatic acid, I use it to spiffy up
rusty tools[smoke]
I would get it restored and get his medals and any pictures you have and put them in a display case.
Any rust on the blade can be called "dried HUN
blood."

thanks, guys.

unfortunately, i don't know of any medals or even where'd they'd be.  grandpa was in artillery and once told me that he was engaged with the enemy 314 out of 355 days.  he doesn't talk about it very much and i think it's because he saw a lot of stuff that really affected him (rightly so!)  i don't think he'd really be all that happy about the display case thing.  bringing up too many unpleasant memories.  but, after he's gone, and if i find any, i plan on doing that for my children to know who their great-grandpa was (and another way to teach the real history).

03 bayonet?

Was your grandpa in WWI?

He would be over 100 years old or close to it.

With all due respect I don't think I would take acid to it.  Depending on the level of rust I would advise just polishing it with a wool rag and light oil.

OR....soak it in good penetrating oil like parts blaster.....liquid wrench or equivelent.....[:)]

More of his war stories.  When I was talking to ARladies grandpa, he was telling me that the initial shelling of infantry usually brought about some pretty stiff counter-battery fire that led to all out arty wars.  The US arty would often move, set up, and continue again to make the Germans have to recalc where they were firing.  We had a big advantage in speed and movement with lots of mech. equipment to relocate the guns.  I guess a lot of the German arty was still horse drawn, and could not move as quickly.

ARlady asked (demanded, then ordered is more apporpriate) me to acquire a 1903A3 when she found this bayonet.  From what he said, this is what he carried most of the time.   Apparantly all the Garands were going to infantry units, and it took the carbines a while to trickle down.

Pretty cool in all.  I'm sure they is lots more stuff in his basement to setup a nice little memorial.

I would like to do the same for my grandpa.  He flew, PBYs, PB4Y1 (the navy B-24) and PB4Y2s, mostly on ASW mission.  He had his issue 1911, but my Grandma made him sell when they had grandkids.  Apparantly it was mint.  The witch!

I'll stop rambling now, I need to get back to work.

Halfcocked,

It was WWII.  When the war started alot of infantry units had just converted to the Garand.  Most support units, from what I understand were equiped with 1903A3s which is what he carried.  He was eventually issued a Garand, and then a carbine.

You're absolutly right.  The difference between an 03 bayonet and an 03A3 bayonet is about 6".

To the best of my knowlage the bayonet used on the 03 in the war to end all wars (WWI) is the M1905.  These same bayonets were shortened for use on the 03A3 and Garand in WWII.  

I have an original uncut sample in my collection.  It has wood grips.  I have noticed that there is also a bayonet available with plastic grips, but do not know the model number.

If it were mine, I would clean it up with oil and fine steel wool.  Dip the steel wool into the oil and polish the surface.  

OSA

I agree with Old Sprfld Armory.

I’ve used XXXX steel wool to remove light surface rust from firearms for years.  It will remove rust but not blueing as long as you don’t get too aggressive.  This steel wool is extremely fine – it feels something like cotton.  Don’t know where you could find it (though obviously brownells.com has it), possibly a car parts store.

Exposure to and fumes from muriatic acid will cause rust over a period of a few days (been there, done that).  It will also remove blueing (which is actually rust itself).  If you use it, be sure and totally flush the scabbard afterwards.  Also wear protective eyewear, rubber gloves, and all that.  

Of course while you can remove the rust, you will still have pits left in the metal.  With luck, these won’t be too noticeable.  

If the scabbard is really bad you may want to refinish it.  However, refinishing it will almost certainly lower any collector value it might have.

Don't use steel wool unless you want to lose what's left of the blueing. Use [b]stainless steel[/b] steel wool & good gun oil together. It won't remove the blueing, I've used it many times & have had good luck with it.  You can get it at Walmart pretty cheap, alot cheaper than Brownells.

ColtShorty

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"I won't be wronged,  I won't be insulted
and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do
these things to other people and I require
the same from them."