Armour

I am looking for advice on the conservation of a suit of armour,
iron, apparently a 19th century replica. This decorative piece
stands in the museum, located in a warm humid climate without
environmental control, and creates immense work to control
corrosion. A proprietary metal cleaner, available in the local
supermarket for cleaning the family silver, has been used with
decreasing regularity, and the embossed surface is both scratched,
corroded and pitted.

On the advice of a local gun enthusiast, instructions were given for
the cleaning with gun oil and steel wool. The sample area indicates
that enthusiastic cleaning has removed the patina in places, with
corrosion products still evident in other places, under the film of
oil, labelled WD40, of unknown constituents.

This is way out of my field, but the situation clearly requires
professional intervention. Any suggestions or literature citations
would be welcome.

Mrs Dale Peters
Paper Conservator
Campbell Collections of the University of Natal
220 Marriott Road
Durban 4001
South Africa
+27 - 31 - 260-2306
Fax: +27 - 31 - 291-622

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 9:73
                    Distributed: Sunday, May 5, 1996
                        Message Id: cdl-9-73-017
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