Bullet and Shell Civil War Projectiles Forum
Relic Discussion => Artillery => Topic started by: noonanda on June 09, 2019, 11:31:30 AM
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Gentlemen,
Dug what I suspect is a Piece of a Ground burst Confederate 24Lb Howitzer Case Shot. It still has some Sulfur matrix as you can see, and has a few case shot still attached. I want to prevent any further Deterioration. I have asked a couple people, and some have said Polyurethane clear coar the whole thing, while others have said Slow electrolysis. I am wondering what you all would do
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Carl can answer more definitively but I think if you do electrolysis your matrix and case shot will come apart which I am sure you do not want to happen. Carl? What say you?
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I can't say I've done electrolysis on a piece like that due to the thought that there was a good chance some or all of it would come loose. To me it is a dug relic and I would not change that look about it. What I normally do is wire brush the iron and rinse the matrix/balls to remove the dirt. It appears you've done the rinse job. The wire brushing I do is with a round wire brush on a motor driven spindle. It does a pretty good job and make it easy to do frag edges, etc. In your case you would clean the back and sides and not touch the shell interior side. Cleaning with a hammer, etc. would also likely knock some balls loose. Once clean and very dry I'd coat the iron with poly and leave the balls au natural. But that's me for my piece.
All that said, very neat find and congratulations! Good to see neat relics still being found.
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Carl, that is my plan, just going to let it dry out for a few days before I coat it
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agreed, clean it by hand getting the loose stuff off. Rust converter may not be bad idea to use on portions of it.
I don't think the entire matrix will lift away/disintegrate, but around the edges it would certainly lift and fall away in electrolysis
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any finished pictures
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any finished pictures
So I took a buddy's advice and did run it through electrolysis, but at 1 amp. Didnt lose any matrix or lead, and she really cleaned up good. Then let it dry out for 2 weeks in the hot garage and sealled it with clear coat
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Nice job. Thanks for sharing. I like those frags with the balls still attached.