Restoration and Renovation of Old Ottoman Empire Dagger

#screwsandtools #dagger #restoration
Today, restoration and renovation of old Ottoman Empire dagger. This piece doesn’t belong to me — I was asked to restore it and make a few modifications. The dagger dates back to the late 19th century. It’s richly decorated with natural stones: turquoise, garnet, and another green stone which, unfortunately, I couldn’t identify. The main task was to replace the blade, which looked too simple and cheap, install an old one instead, shape it properly, restore the handle, and clean the scabbard. I decided to do all of this as delicately as possible, avoiding the use of heavy mechanical tools. First, I started with the rivets. Using a small file, I carefully ground down the peened ends and removed them. When I took out the central rivet, the handle finally cracked — though the crack had been there before. After that, I marked the shape I needed for the blade and cut off the excess, leaving only the handle. From an old blade, I cut out a blank of the required shape, refining its outline with a metal file and a bit of work with a jigsaw. Then I leveled the surface and prepared both parts for joining. For extra strength, I made a “lock” joint — shaping the ends and inserting an additional rivet to reinforce the construction. Next came the welding. I used CO₂ gas and, after welding, carefully cleaned and polished the seams. Then I moved on to shaping the bevels and final form of the blade. The new blade was made in the bebout style, with its characteristic curved tip — and I managed to get the shape right on the first try. The next stage was the handle. It turned out to be made of cheap plastic. I had to spend quite some time fitting the upper and lower parts, adjusting the alignment, and finally gluing them together into a single piece. After gluing, I shaped the handle with sandpaper to give it proper contours. Then, in warm soapy water, I cleaned all the metal fittings. One of the decorative stones was damaged, and I tried to replace it with a similar one from my collection, shaping it by hand — but it didn’t look good. So I rearranged the original stone instead, and the result turned out quite well. After that, I moved on to cleaning the scabbard. To remove heavy oxidation, I added a bit of baking soda. The scabbard, made of nickel silver, cleaned up beautifully in warm water with soap and soda. Once it was completely dry — using a hair dryer — I re-riveted the handle. In place of the central rivet, I installed new ones and added small colored inserts — red and blue — to match the tones of the stones. The next morning, I filled in the small gaps around the base of the handle with a special resin, just like it used to be done in the Caucasus. I also added a thin leather insert inside the scabbard, so the blade wouldn’t scratch against the metal, and gave the edge a light sharpening. In the end, I completed everything the client expected from me. Make sure to share this video, leave your thoughts in the comments, and don’t forget to hit the like button. Thank you all for watching!