Osmund iron

Does anybody have experience or knowledge about Osmund iron? The
term refers to small wrought iron bars, which were, according to
written sources, typical merchandise in medieval times, but it seems
that very few examples have been found and conserved. Last summer a
barrel containing several hundreds of small iron bars, believed to
be Osmund iron, was lifted from a 14th century wreck-site in the
Baltic Sea. The size of the iron bars is approximately 9 x 2 x 0.8
cm and they are now very mineralized and fragile. Samples are
currently being analyzed and for comparison we are looking for any
information about similar finds. Composition, corrosion processes,
size, shape and anything else would be good information. Thoughts
about conservation would be appreciated as well.

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


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 20:41
                 Distributed: Sunday, February 25, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-20-41-013
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