Bullet and Shell Civil War Projectiles Forum
Relic Discussion => Artillery => Topic started by: Wilmington Mike on March 31, 2020, 04:23:29 PM
-
Hi Guys, I need some advice on cleaning this Parrot percussion fuse. It is an old find my son made years ago. i just never tackled it. Can this be cleaned or should I just leave well enough alone. It is a concrete like crust. Your thoughts. TIA
-
Mike, I'd clean it if I was you, it would clean up nice, but I am not versed on how. Maybe a little electrolysis ?
-
Some folks must have lots of time on their hands these days. I know I've been working on some longstanding projects too.
Do you have another junky white metal Parrott fuse piece that you can practice on? Unfortunately, I do not have a good test candidate to send you right now. But if you do, I'd test the method of soaking it in heated up (from a microwave oven) hydrogen peroxide and then gently chipping the concretion away. You could always stop if it wasn't working like you wanted it to.
Given the intrinsic value of this to you though, I am hesitant to suggest you do anything to it.
-
Personally, I wouldn't try any chemical or electrical means of cleaning it. It looks to me like there is a reaction going on internally in the alloy, similar to pot metal or pewter disease, were the different metals are reacting and causing it to swell and breakdown .
If you need to clean it I would try out a soft bronze brush and a dental pick.
-
You (MGMRadio) have vastly more qualified experience than me and I have seen your good work with other things (not just radios and leather), so I defer to you on this topic.
By the way, I bought a nice, used Ford F150 for all the hauling I thought I'd be doing. Got my Dad's house emptied and sold (hallelujah!) and a couple other trips in over the first 3+ weeks before shows started cancelling and we went into lockdown. Still have a cannon to haul home from Georgia someday, but for the time being the truck is a big white elephant. Still, I think of you and Carl as Ford people every time I have to navigate around that driveway blocker. Hope you are enjoying life in AZ!
-
Glad you finally got a real truck. I'm loving Arizona, but the relic hunting is slim. Have found a couple of bullets that were on my want list in an olds fort site.
The best part of being out here is I get to shoot my Civil War guns.
-
I agree with eMike and MGM. I wouldn't use chemical or electrical means on it. It might not remove much of the crud and is most likely going to change the color. It is stable as is out of the ground and kept dry. I would find some dental pick tools or similar and get most of the crud off that way.
That's a really nice fuse your son found.
-
Thank you for the replies. I am almost afraid to try anything with this one. I think it could end up worse than it is. Definitely not electrolysis. I've been using hot peroxide on some buttons and some ratty coins. I do not have any test pieces to practice this method. The crud seems to have eaten into the metal- reminds me of bronze disease on coins and buttons. If I pop a piece of the crud off, it leaves a pit. Since this find was made many years ago, obviously there has been no sense of urgency to clean it. Anyway, thanks to you all for the counsel. I do have a couple of nice ones to show you though.
-
Mike, it is probably not that the crud has eaten into the metal, but a reaction within the alloy itself.
-
Mike, give me a holler, I have a lot of blown Parrott fuze pieces you can practice on, stop on over and look at my collection too
-
nice fuse Mike. I would just pick at the high spots very gently and get the loose stuff off. With your debur tool you might could work down some high spots. Electrolysis would get a lot of it but may take the patina.Just mess with it a little, you'll know when to stop
-
Anyone ever hear of using sugar water or syrup to gently eat corrosion away? Probably would take a long time as a process, but sounds doable if you are a patient person. I'm not, lol...
Nice fuzes by the way!
-
I've tried the molasses method on a Hotchkiss base.
-
Speedenforcer, you left me hanging. Did the molasses work? Details of the process? I’ve been thinking about trying that on some smaller iron pieces. Thanks.
-
Mike, if you have a cannon you don't want to bother dragging back to IL with your FORD. (Found On Road Dead) as well as other known abbreviations.) You can just drag it to my place and leave it in the front driveway....rent free. :D :D
-
I'd mount it firmly in a hole in a board or such, and use a tack hammer lightly with a flat tip punch to gently tap the raised rust, on shells which I always clean by hand , it pops of the raised rust. very time consuming, but has worked well for me