OldDocWard
Junior Member
I recently found a rusty old axehead (buried a foot deep) in a wooded area which was a summer camp for Arizona miners late 1800s-early 1900s. After some research, as I already had a blasting setup, I decided to try glass bead blasting, as a way to remove rust without removing non-oxidized iron material. I first soaked the axehead in warm soapy water and scrubbed with a non-metallic scrub brush, to remove dirt and loose rust (rusty pictures below show them after the scrubbing). Then, I used 80 grit glass beads. The cleaned pictures show the result (yes, I missed a tiny spot!). To inhibit further rusting, I coated them afterward with an acetone-soluble polymer, Paraloid B72, because in future that could be completely removed if desired. I found that product discussed on some museum sites. Here's one: https://www.montpelier.org/so-fresh-and-so-clean-iron-conservation-at-montpelier/
