A question of timber and wood.

[Gavin Nugent]

A question of material preperation really.

I am considering removing the Kelling Hall collection of Sumatran weapons from my office to a large board in the living room, next to the fireplace.

Is there treatment or preparation I need to consider for the horn, timber, coral and bamboo parts of these weapons that I should consider if displayed next to a heat source like the fireplace?

Thanks in advance.

Gav

[A. G. Maisey]

Yeah --- don't.

[Gavin Nugent]

Noted and thank you ;-)

[Battara]

Alan - great advice and I agree 1000%.

[VANDOO]

PLACING WEAPONS NEAR A HEAT SOURCE CAN BE RISKY.
BUT IN NATIVE SOCIETY WEAPONS ARE OFTEN KEPT IN THE RAFTERS WHERE THE SMOKE HELPS PRESERVE THEM. IF YOU BURN WOOD IN YOUR FIREPLACE YOU WILL GET SMOKE RESIDU ON WHAT EVER IS HUNG ABOVE IT. WOOD ALSO GIVES OFF MOISTURE IN THE FORM OF STEAM WHICH WILL RISE AND COULD CAUSE PROBLEMS.
SOME MATERIALS CAN CRACK OR SPLIT DUE TO HEAT OR DRYING BECAUSE OF IT. THE CLOSER TO THE HEAT THE WORSE IT WILL BE. IF ITS HIGHER AS ON OR ABOVE A FIREPLACE MANTLE THERE WILL BE LESS EFFECT AND IF ITS ONLY GAS HEAT THE SMOKE WILL BE ELIMINATED BUT THERE WILL STILL BE HEAT AND MOSITURE TO CONTEND WITH. I AM NOT SURE HOW TO PROTECT THE MATERIALS OVER A FIREPLACE BUT IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A GOOD PLACE TO HANG THINGS I HAVE A 2500 YEAR OLD BISON SKULL HANGING OVER MINE AS WELL AS A MANTLE FULL OF WOOD CARVINGS WHICH HAVE NOT SUFFERED MUCH OVER SEVERAL YEARS. IF YOU WANT TO GIVE IT A TRY IT WILL PROBABLY BE OK BUT I WOULD KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON THE ITEMS AT LEAST FOR THE FIRST YEAR. MY ITEMS ARE ABOUT TWO FEET ABOVE THE TOP OF THE FIREPLACE OPENING. I WOULD NOT LEAVE BLADES IN SCABBARDS BECAUSE OF THE MOISTURE FROM HEATING AND COOLING CONDENSATION. IF THEY ARE WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM YOU CAN STOP ANY RUST OR REMOVE THE ITEMS BEFORE THERE IS MUCH DAMMAGE DONE. COATING THE BLADES ,WOOD OR HORN WITH THE VARIOUS WAX, OR OILS MENTIONED IN SEVERAL FORUM POSTS WOULD NOT HURT REGARDLESS OF WHERE YOU DISPLAY YOUR COLLECTION. THE AGE CONDITION, FRAGILITY, RARITY AND VALUE OF THE ITEMS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED ALSO. VERY RARE OR VALUABLE ITEMS WOULD BE BETTER PRESERVED IN A AREA WHERE HUMIDITY, HEAT AND LIGHT ARE CONTROLLED A FIREPLACE DOES NOT QUALIFY AS SUCH A PLACE. GOOD LUCK

[fearn]

You've got a couple of big problems....IF you use the fireplace.

One is that hot material will degrade (e.g. age) faster. Refrigerators work on the reverse principle, and forgers use sometimes heat to make their stuff look older than it is.

A second is that if something is warm, it will expand, and different materials have different thermal expansion rates. In other words, that complex hilt probably will work itself apart if heated and cooled repeatedly, because some materials will expand and contract faster than others will.

Another, bigger problem is that you can get a temperature gradient across the object if it's 30 degrees warmer on one side than the other. Remember that thermal expansion coefficient? Warm one side of the hilt, and watch it crack even faster.

So basically, you've got some options:
1. Don't hang something on or near a hot chimney
2. Don't use that fireplace while the collection is near it.
3. (probably a good idea anyway) install a couple of recording thermometers and humidity sensors around your chimney display, and get some data on that environment before you introduce your collection to it. If it's no different than the where your stuff is now, no problem. If it is very different, well, start figuring out how you're going to fix it before the move.

My 0.00000000002 cents,

F

[Gavin Nugent]

Thanks Guys,

Alan's advise is siple and easy to follow, wise words by the sound of it.
Jose, Barry, Fearn, certainly lots there to think about too, thank you it somewhat quantifies certain levels of exposure and what to expect and some good insight into preperation of the area should I be silly enough to ignore words of wisdom...I think the area will be off limits :-( It would have looked so good there too.

Gav