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Dwight Gruber · 03-03-2002, 12:17 PM

I may get into trouble on some of the details here, but...

You do need to actually halt the corrosion. Rust "blooms", that is, grows from the metal. Removing the gun from the corrosive environment will slow it way down, but in order to stop it you need to either remove it from the surface or chemically change the rust coating itself so that it no longer attacks the metal.

You can have quite a thick layer of rust and still have substantial metal underneath it. Iirc, you need to determine if there is sufficient metal to remove the rust, of if the artifact is mostly rust and the rust itself needs to be affixed in place so that it grows no further, but doesn't flake away (the drum magazine down-screen comes to mind!). Of course, if you remove the rust, you need to take measures to preserve the metal--I'll take refuge here in the well-worn "these methods are commonly known."

I have seen a Colt model 1911, dug up out of a farmer's field in England, dating from when said farm was a WWII B-24 bomber base. The weapon had been properly conserved, was -badly- pitted but rust-free and surface-treated in some fashion--the slide and action still worked! The farmer was a young boy there during the war, he knew the story (a rather funny one) that went with the gun long beforer he actually found it.

--Dwight

03-03-2002, 12:17 PM	#5
Dwight Gruber User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 3,908 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1,330 Times in 435 Posts	Re: Worth repairing? I may get into trouble on some of the details here, but... You do need to actually halt the corrosion. Rust "blooms", that is, grows from the metal. Removing the gun from the corrosive environment will slow it way down, but in order to stop it you need to either remove it from the surface or chemically change the rust coating itself so that it no longer attacks the metal. You can have quite a thick layer of rust and still have substantial metal underneath it. Iirc, you need to determine if there is sufficient metal to remove the rust, of if the artifact is mostly rust and the rust itself needs to be affixed in place so that it grows no further, but doesn't flake away (the drum magazine down-screen comes to mind!). Of course, if you remove the rust, you need to take measures to preserve the metal--I'll take refuge here in the well-worn "these methods are commonly known." I have seen a Colt model 1911, dug up out of a farmer's field in England, dating from when said farm was a WWII B-24 bomber base. The weapon had been properly conserved, was -badly- pitted but rust-free and surface-treated in some fashion--the slide and action still worked! The farmer was a young boy there during the war, he knew the story (a rather funny one) that went with the gun long beforer he actually found it. --Dwight