Brass time capsule

Clint Fountain <cfountain [at] mail__dos__state__fl__us> writes

>The Museum of Florida History has recently come into possession of a
>box made of sheet brass, 17 5/8" X 17" X 1", which bears a plaque...
>...
>The problem: how to open the box with zero probability of damage to
>the contents, and with minimal damage to the container and its
>coating.

For our stainless steel time capsules, we grind the welds off
*manually*.  It is a long and arduous process (especially for new
stainless steel of the thickness we use, which is about 1/8").  We
had to do this for the City of Ontario (CA) capsule.  We were able
to salvage the bottom shell, but had to make a new top for it.  The
edges of the shell had to be filed down, too. While this is
expensive (time-wise), no heat is used other than that manually
generated.

As you grind the welds, some of the filings will inevitably fall
into the container.  For my capsules, this is not much of a problem,
since I use proper archival enclosures & boxes, but one needs to be
aware of the dusting, etc.

This may not help you much with the brass, and we are discussing
this now. I will let you know if we find anything that is more
helpful.

Janet Reinhold
Future Packaging & Preservation
1580 W San Bernardino Rd, Unit C
Covina CA 91722-3457
626-966-1955

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:40
                 Distributed: Monday, November 2, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-12-40-008
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