Sword conservation

[ariel]

Lee,
That would be great!
Many thanks in advance!

[Miguel]

I am no expert but I was going to suggest Electrolysis as suggested by Roland. Since I read estrch`s post I have used it with great success although not on such heavily corroded items. As Roland says it is much used by Archaeologists and can be controlled so that you can remove as much or as little as you wish within reason there is plenty of info on the web for you to peruse.
Miguel

[machinist]

I am very much interested in this topic as I have a very rusted axe head that I want to at least stabilize. It is flaking apart and I think if I did the electrolysis thing I would not have much left.

I have thought about the distilled water soak followed by baking and then wax but I am learning from this thread first.

Does the paraloid B-72 provide much structural stability for a fragile item?

[ariel]

I have shown this 15 cen excavated Bauernwehr before, but think it might be useful here.
Stabilized with tannic acid.
There are commercial Rust Converters: tannin, polymer and a bit of phosphoric acid

[silberschatzimsee]

I would have carefully cleaned the rough soil of with destilled water and a cottonstick and dried it very fast.
The clay sized soil in the moulds i would have left since it would be very hard to remove without damaging the surface.

Storage: I would have used hydrophil silicon beads combined with a food safe bag.


Ps: I am no metal expert

[Lee]

It will be a bit longer before I find those detailed instructions.

The second motherboard of the machine I have been using for years gave out last year and I switched to another old machine I had brought home from the office. While I have found 9 of 10 years of e-mails, those for the year I need are backed up on media that the current machine cannot read.

I will see if the source of the material can be of help...

[ariel]

OK guys,

Having read tons of contradictory recommendations on the net, appealing for help to professional conservators in several university-based archeological museums ( standard answer: put it in a plastic bag with some dessicator, close the bag and never open it again) and even buying a book of practical pearls of wisdom by a renown restorer ( useless junk), I decided to take the problem into my own hands.

Alan, you should always listen to your parents: lime is removable with vinegar.

Recipe: buy a plastic bin with the bottom longer that the sword. Put the sword in and pour distilled vinegar 5% to cover it. Close the lid ( I did it in the laundry room and my wife refused to go in because of vinegary smell).
Keep it there for a couple of hours. Scour the sword with a nylon brush. Clean narrow spaces ( rivets, crossguard) with a medium tooth brush.
Having worked on it for 15 minutes, take it out, pour the vinegar into the sink, wash the sword and the bin with water several times.
Put the sword back, cover with water, add shitload of soda, let it sit for another 15 min ( scour missed areas meanwhile).

Wash again, dry . Finita la commedia!

Lime is gone, loose rust is gone. Now I can even see the remnants of the wooden handle, the tunkou and the terminal double-edged diamond-shaped segment of the blade. A classic Khazar!
Now the question: should I cover it with Renaissance Wax or with Rust Converter ( tannate + polymer) to make it look black like the Bauernwehr I showed earlier?