Avolow
Active Member
Hey everyone,
Been a long time since I've been on and even longer since I posted, but I recently had to do something and thought what I found would be of use to those here. Some time ago when I was on here last I followed some of the threads on the Highlander swords, and on the Sword of the Dragon Duncan katana specifically. As I remember, there would from time to time pop up a thread asking how to get the thing apart, but it always was consensus that there was no way to get it apart without busting/ruining the dragon head to get to the bolt.
Recently I came across a Katana/Wakizashi set for $40.00, so I pulled the trigger and brought them home. Neither was in the greatest shape. Someone had done a little cutting with the katana and it had a couple small nicks in the blade and a small chip in the bottom of the jaw. The wakizashi blade was perfect, but had a large chunk of the nose missing. The katana I was able to remove most of the blade damage with a whetstone and a few minutes. I already had one of these in perfect condition, so I really didn't need it. I wanted the wakizashi, but with it being damaged, what was the point? Remembering back when people weren't having much luck getting these apart without busting up the one part I needed to keep, I started looking around at what I could do to release the epoxy. Acetone might damage the handle material, nail polish remover might do the same thing, Goof off was a option, but again it might have negative effects on the handle plus I would have to soak it in the stuff with no guarantee that it would get in far enough to release all of the epoxy.
Looking online, I found that boiling epoxy will release it.
Boiling? Yep. (Not my video)
Having a different handle from another broken Duncan sword from years ago I thought I would see what would happen. I attached it to a piece of 2x4 so it would just be suspended in the water and not touch the bottom, brought the pot of water up to about 200 degrees F, and dropped it in for about ten minutes. The remnants of the epoxy just came right off when I pulled it out and brushed at it with a butter knife.
Success? I thought so, so I got the wakizashi attached to the board and took it for a dip. I figured 15 minutes and I would give it a try.
To keep it upright I used duct tape to steady it against my range hood.
When I pulled it out, I used a towel (so I didn't burn myself) to try and pull the head off. While I was pulling on the head I could feel the nose flex back and forth as the heat softened the handle plastic, so I was careful with that, and just gripped it above the eyes. I could see the handle come out of the separation callar and it looked like it was working. Well, I pulled a little to hard and the head tore on the other side since the epoxy hadn't all released yet. Yep, tore the neck up pretty bad on the head. At least it was the one with the broken nose to begin with.
I was bummed, but figured I would try again with the katana. This time I would leave it in for 20 minutes.
YES! It came off without breaking. I laid it on the counter as you see and gripped it with the towel again, making sure to not cover the collar area so I could see the plastic move on the top and the edge closest to me while I tried wiggling the head. When I could see it moving I flip it over and wiggled it again. All the plastic seemed to be moving freely and no part of it seemed to not move so I carefully started pulling while I slightly wiggled and it popped right off with no damage.
The jagged edges in the last pic above are just loose epoxy.
Boiling the handle also had zero effect on the finish and the handle hardened right back up once it cooled. At the very least any of the chemical options would have removed the finish if they had worked at all without other damage to the plastic.
After it came off I used a small screwdriver and dug at the epoxy in the head cavity (while taking care not to pry against the edges of the neck) and the collar. It all just pealed out with no fight while it was still hot. It did get harder to remove though as it cooled back down.
The head now is ready for me to attach to the wakizashi.
Currently it is just setting on it without glue since I want to try and fix the chip in the chin before I permanently re-attach it, but that is another days project.
(Anyone know how to color match this with some resin or epoxy I can carve?)
Hope this is helpful to someone out there.
Avolow.
Been a long time since I've been on and even longer since I posted, but I recently had to do something and thought what I found would be of use to those here. Some time ago when I was on here last I followed some of the threads on the Highlander swords, and on the Sword of the Dragon Duncan katana specifically. As I remember, there would from time to time pop up a thread asking how to get the thing apart, but it always was consensus that there was no way to get it apart without busting/ruining the dragon head to get to the bolt.
Recently I came across a Katana/Wakizashi set for $40.00, so I pulled the trigger and brought them home. Neither was in the greatest shape. Someone had done a little cutting with the katana and it had a couple small nicks in the blade and a small chip in the bottom of the jaw. The wakizashi blade was perfect, but had a large chunk of the nose missing. The katana I was able to remove most of the blade damage with a whetstone and a few minutes. I already had one of these in perfect condition, so I really didn't need it. I wanted the wakizashi, but with it being damaged, what was the point? Remembering back when people weren't having much luck getting these apart without busting up the one part I needed to keep, I started looking around at what I could do to release the epoxy. Acetone might damage the handle material, nail polish remover might do the same thing, Goof off was a option, but again it might have negative effects on the handle plus I would have to soak it in the stuff with no guarantee that it would get in far enough to release all of the epoxy.
Looking online, I found that boiling epoxy will release it.
Boiling? Yep. (Not my video)
Having a different handle from another broken Duncan sword from years ago I thought I would see what would happen. I attached it to a piece of 2x4 so it would just be suspended in the water and not touch the bottom, brought the pot of water up to about 200 degrees F, and dropped it in for about ten minutes. The remnants of the epoxy just came right off when I pulled it out and brushed at it with a butter knife.
Success? I thought so, so I got the wakizashi attached to the board and took it for a dip. I figured 15 minutes and I would give it a try.
To keep it upright I used duct tape to steady it against my range hood.
When I pulled it out, I used a towel (so I didn't burn myself) to try and pull the head off. While I was pulling on the head I could feel the nose flex back and forth as the heat softened the handle plastic, so I was careful with that, and just gripped it above the eyes. I could see the handle come out of the separation callar and it looked like it was working. Well, I pulled a little to hard and the head tore on the other side since the epoxy hadn't all released yet. Yep, tore the neck up pretty bad on the head. At least it was the one with the broken nose to begin with.
I was bummed, but figured I would try again with the katana. This time I would leave it in for 20 minutes.
YES! It came off without breaking. I laid it on the counter as you see and gripped it with the towel again, making sure to not cover the collar area so I could see the plastic move on the top and the edge closest to me while I tried wiggling the head. When I could see it moving I flip it over and wiggled it again. All the plastic seemed to be moving freely and no part of it seemed to not move so I carefully started pulling while I slightly wiggled and it popped right off with no damage.
The jagged edges in the last pic above are just loose epoxy.
Boiling the handle also had zero effect on the finish and the handle hardened right back up once it cooled. At the very least any of the chemical options would have removed the finish if they had worked at all without other damage to the plastic.
After it came off I used a small screwdriver and dug at the epoxy in the head cavity (while taking care not to pry against the edges of the neck) and the collar. It all just pealed out with no fight while it was still hot. It did get harder to remove though as it cooled back down.
The head now is ready for me to attach to the wakizashi.
Currently it is just setting on it without glue since I want to try and fix the chip in the chin before I permanently re-attach it, but that is another days project.
(Anyone know how to color match this with some resin or epoxy I can carve?)
Hope this is helpful to someone out there.
Avolow.
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