[drdavid]

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate the expertise. The rust is all stable with only a tiny bit of surface stuff that will come off with cloth and oil. What really impresses about this sword is the beautiful balance of the thing, it feels exactly right. I had not thought about beeswax as the ferule, I had not realised it could get so hard, although I have seen a variety of tree resins used for 'glue' on Australian aboriginal artifacts. Thanks again