Epoxy resin use

[Rammjäger]

Antique knife and its subsequent preservation in epoxy resin

 

[hoser]

Well I gotta say that encasing it in epoxy is about your only option for sure. Looks very fragile. Can't wait to see the final product. Very cool. Any idea as to it's age?

 

[Rammjäger]

Well I gotta say that encasing it in epoxy is about your only option for sure. Looks very fragile. Can't wait to see the final product. Very cool. Any idea as to it's age?

Hoser, this is a gaucho facón. The traditional cowboy knife of South America. I found it many years ago while scouting a battlefield from 1935. But this knife could be much older than that, because in the 19th century, the site was a military checkpoint. The handle is silver, and I found it 20 cm deep.

 

[Rammjäger]

The day I found It.I tried it later with electrolysis

 

[Rammjäger]

I was the one responsible for the knife's blade breaking. Because at the bottom of the hole I saw something that seemed to be a piece of aluminum pipe and I pulled on it hard, thinking it was modern trash. When I heard the "click" that something had broken, then I realized it was something else.

 

[Rammjäger]

This ist me at the site that same day

 

[Pete e]

Antique knife and its subsequent preservation in epoxy resinView attachment 615502

Very interesting approach to preserving an Iron find. I found a very old and very rust encrusted iron spike. I dried it out (or so I thought) coated it in wax, and left it in a sealed plastic box nestled on cotton wool.

Over the course of a few weeks, I noticed it was still "sweating" moisture and eventually when I went to replace the rust stained cotton wool it was resting on, the spike just crumbled into a pile of rust.

It will be interesting to see how your method works....

 

[Rammjäger]

Very interesting approach to preserving an Iron find. I found a very old and very rust encrusted iron spike. I dried it out (or so I thought) coated it in wax, and left it in a sealed plastic box nestled on cotton wool.

Over the course of a few weeks, I noticed it was still "sweating" moisture and eventually when I went to replace the rust stained cotton wool it was resting on, the spike just crumbled into a pile of rust.

It will be interesting to see how your method works....

Thank you.I promise to upload photos once I can dedicate myself to it. First I have to make the mold and cover it with silicone to be able to unmold it.

 

[Rammjäger]

My first attempt with epoxy resin was a success! I saved my wife's tray from a glass crack while in a suitcase during our flight. The resin created a clear coat that made the cracks in the glass disappear from view.

 

[CharlieT84]

Nice job. Very creative!

 

[old-raven]

I was the one responsible for the knife's blade breaking. Because at the bottom of the hole I saw something that seemed to be a piece of aluminum pipe and I pulled on it hard, thinking it was modern trash. When I heard the "click" that something had broken, then I realized it was something else.

I've bent and broken a few objects as a result of being in too much of a hurry, I've even removed targets using a pry bar which is actually really bad. It's time consuming to try to gently dig up a target and you end up having to use careful scraping, brushing and tip tapping around it with various tools. Major headache. Ideal scenario is to remove all soil from around the target to bring it to light in situ but it could eat up all your allotted time in the field real quick and forget a nice clean plug. Trying to use archaeological digging techniques is actually good form but obviously not easily put into practice. I've recently begun to incorporate a chisel and hammer into my tool kit which makes it possible to excavate in a bit more controlled way but still it's time consuming. The mentality has to be:
Make no assumptions about what you're digging up even if you think it's trash. It looks like an aluminum can at depth? Don't count on it, it could be anything and until you've taken it from the earth you simply cannot say. I can't count the number of presumed "trash" targets I've come across that ended up being a genuine historic relic.
Good find and interesting preservation technique!

 

[Rammjäger]

I've bent and broken a few objects as a result of being in too much of a hurry, I've even removed targets using a pry bar which is actually really bad. It's time consuming to try to gently dig up a target and you end up having to use careful scraping, brushing and tip tapping around it with various tools. Major headache. Ideal scenario is to remove all soil from around the target to bring it to light in situ but it could eat up all your allotted time in the field real quick and forget a nice clean plug. Trying to use archaeological digging techniques is actually good form but obviously not easily put into practice. I've recently begun to incorporate a chisel and hammer into my tool kit which makes it possible to excavate in a bit more controlled way but still it's time consuming. The mentality has to be:
Make no assumptions about what you're digging up even if you think it's trash. It looks like an aluminum can at depth? Don't count on it, it could be anything and until you've taken it from the earth you simply cannot say. I can't count the number of presumed "trash" targets I've come across that ended up being a genuine historic relic.
Good find and interesting preservation technique!

Thanks Old-raven, here is a photo of the epoxi resin project
for this old knife. It is still in the mold because I needed more
resin to complete it.Once finished , I will upload more pics of the
finished object.