Old shield
 

A friend of mine has the old shield home.Do you know what country can be and how old?Thank you for answers, dear fellow forum.

Salaams Multumesc The shield of your friend is very rusty... It will continue to eat the item if left untreated. Once the rust has been reduced/removed I think the pattern will reveal its provenance. My first reaction would be to clean off the rust perhaps dropping it is coke cola for a week would help. Then there are plenty of other rust removers ...once cleaned I would like to see it re-photographed if you can please? My money would be on Indian? Persian? What are its dimensions please?

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

I must disagree. I would only stabilize the active rust, not treat the entire piece.

:shrug:

Old shield
 

The shield is approximately 50 cm.What can clean rust and do not affect the surface?It can be shiny?

Hello Multumesc, Personally I would clean this in warm soapy water to remove as much dirt and powdered rust as possible then dry thoroughly. On an item like this where no wood or other organic material is present I would place the item in an oven at 200 deg F for about twenty minutes to make sure that all the water has evaporated. After it cools I would use a light weight oil (like sewing machine oil) and 0000 steel wool to remove any loose rust. Wipe with a clean rag with a small amount of oil on it until all excess rust has been removed, then wipe with clean dry cloth to remove all excess oil and lastly apply a coat of Ren wax and polish. This is what I would do but others might have better suggestions for cleaning.

Best,
Robert

P.S. Please do not make it shiny, only remove the dirt and filth and stabilize the rust.

Wouldn't be much shield left after that... an hour or two max. I would have thought?

A bit of scrubbing & oil to help, & don't forget to neutralize the acid to stop the coke dissolving it to a relic perhaps?

spiral

Salaams spiral.. Well I reckon a week... however the simple thing to do is drop it in for a few hours and have a look... if it isn't working try it again for another 2 hours ... I find coke pretty safe to use but add the safety precaution above. Coke is not so aggressive as to eat the shield in a few days ... maybe our coke is less powerful than yours?... I don't drink coke ... if it does this to rust what about the intestines!

A lot of other stuff is good including tomato paste. I have good results from pineapple juice also. I suspect that much of the entire front is decorated in some sort of scroll work and the shield may benefit from partial cleaning say... the central disc to see how it goes.

I would avoid vinegar especially the hot technique and stick with the soft options as above~ hot soapy water gentle cleaning in coke for a test period of a few hours and so on... repeat as required and don't leave the coke or other mixes where cat/dog or children can have a mouthful.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Recently I've had very surprising success with undiluted windex. When you buy the "industrial strength" stuff in a big bottle you're supposed to dilute it with water before using, but if you use it straight it seems to work quite well at removing rust. I assume it's the ammonia or some other cleaning agent doing the work. Also of note, when you wipe the windex off the rust on the paper towel is brown whereas if you use something acidic like coke the rust on the towel is black.

This. I strongly suggest avoiding any etchants (acids) like vinegar, cola, fruit juice, naval jelly, etc. This item should not be aggressively cleaned or polished unless you want to destroy any collectible/artifact "value" or intend to fully restore it.

For scrubbing I might suggest that bronze wool is preferable to steel wool. The bronze is unlikely to damage the steel or iron of the shield. Everyone seems to have their own preference of oil with which to scrub. When I wished to avoid getting oil on another part I have used hard paste wax, maybe not the best but not harmful. Automatic transmission fluid is a good cleaning agent.

Coca Cola has maybe 5% phosphoric acid, which is a good rust remover and which also inhibits iron corrosion.

Vinegar (acetic acid) or various citric acids do no inhibiting. Avoid steel wool.

Coca Cola may dissolve the enamel on your teeth, not sure about other bodily effects . . . been used for decades as a good rust remover, though.