I agree. When I think how long it can take a recalcitrant iron object to
give up the chlorides which will cause it to self destruct, and the effort
to do it without harming the object, I have to laugh when told it is easy
and can be done cheaply. I participated in a workshop in Richmond a couple
of years ago on iron conservation, it was entitled, "No magic bullet" and
this is too true of iron treatment.
No two treatments are exactly the same for different objects of the same
material. Variance in manufacture, burial environment (even a few inches
away!) and material composition will all affect the outcome of a treatment.
All batch treatments give uneven results. When undertaking any treatment,
its helps to have as much experience as possible, the best advice you can
get and mother luck on your side.
Betty Seifert
Deputy Chief
Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory
(410) 586-8578
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dennis Piechota [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, 25 January, 2001 9:26 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Wreck Amnesty Announced
>
> >The process for preservation of most of the items recovers by divers
> >- Brass, glass, some iron - are easy to lean and do with a little
> >knowledge and about $100 in equipment and chemicals...Some may even
> >want to learn about wood, paper, and leather also.
>
> Thanks for the comic relief. It reminds me of the guy who said he
> wanted to do his own conservation and asked a conservator what he'd
> need. The conservator said, "First you'll want a good microscope."
> The guy said, "Hum, what if I only find big stuff?"
>
> I think the main problem with the '$100 in equipment and chemicals'
> approach is that, unlike cooking, conservation doesn't work well from
> recipes. Treatments that work on one object will fail on an
> apparently similar one. It's been my experience that the 'adventurer
> in conservation' then often loses his patience and turns to the
> faster, heavy handed methods that 'never fail' - like stripping
> metals down to their shrivelled cores and coating them in hobby store
> epoxies. In the end he may 'blame the victim' (the artifact) when his
> trusty method doesn't work and so he doesn't even count those
> artifacts as his failures.
>
> I'd like to be optimistic and say you can do it guys but in my
> experience the 'a little knowledge and about $100 in equipment and
> chemicals' approach does as much damage as good.
>
> Dennis Piechota
> Conservator
> Fiske Center for Archaeological Research
> University of Massachusetts at Boston
> 617-287-6829
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