Tar barrel

We have an 18th century marine archaeological tar barrel, which was
complete and apparently full of pine-tar when lifted from the wreck
site in the Baltic Sea. The barrel broke to pieces during the
lifting process, and now the pieces have been stored in water for
several years. The wood pieces (pine) are quite covered and probably
pretty much impregnated by pine-tar, so they are in a very good
condition. The tar is a part of this object and should therefore be
preferentially preserved the way it is, but we are afraid that the
outcome of the treatment might be a very sticky and difficult to
handle object. Should the surface be cleaned somehow before treating
and reassembling the barrel? How could this be achieved? Any
suggestion about how to deal with this kind of object would be very
much appreciated.

Eero Ehanti
Conservator
The Maritime Museum of Finland
Hylkysaari
00570 Helsinki
Finland
+358 9 40509062


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 19:1
                 Distributed: Wednesday, June 15, 2005
                        Message Id: cdl-19-1-019
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