A Newbie Find

[mermaiden]

Hi,

I am new to metal detecting. In fact last weekend was the first time that we went out and did it. I found some old iron items of some sort. We got it set up and I've been working on them with electrolysis to clean them up over the past couple of days. Getting there. Just wondering in the meantime if anyone might have thoughts on what the heck these are. I can only figure they might be war relics, or maybe something from a farmer.

Hopefully it won't be too long 'til I'm back with better cleaned up pics!

the pics are here

Found in Alabama.

 

[brnn53]

Welcome to the forum! I can't id your finds but they might be CW. There are lots of good CW sites in Alabama. Research is your best tool. HH!
Mike

 

[RelicDigger1]

Welcome aboard. See how the electrolysis does on the relics and then post them up again. They aren't ringing a bell as to an ID right now but perhaps after a bit of cleaning someone will recognize them.

Again, welcome!

Richard

 

[mermaiden]

Thanks a lot.
I will post back with more shots of them later!

 

[Hugh Pharted]

Looks like you found a sink also. LOL.........BTW, that's one hell of a hole you dug there. Must have been where the sink was....Just joking....Welcome and good luck w/ your new hobby..You'll find it's addictive

 

[mermaiden]

LOL, yeah I was baffled by that site while trying to figure out what the heck was going on there. The 3 items were all really close together, and a little deeper than I expected. Next time we're taking a shovel . . .

Not much but a little progress to show today. They seem to be sorta slow going with the cleaning. Slowly but surely. I'm concerned about 2 of them though; their composition (or construction) seems different. I accidentally broke a little bit off the top of one. I definitely was trying to be gentle and not force anything, but OOPS.

I've posted a couple more shots here
http://rockdigger.blogspot.com/2008/11/still-working-on-them.html
The pics enlarge when clicked, btw.

 

[RelicDigger1]

Sounds like some of the items have some stubborn rust on them. I don't know how familiar you are with electrolysis. But I thought I would mention that when teh item is ready, the rust should simply slide off rather than having to be forced. This doesn't apply to crevices or inside cavities.

The first item you have pictured seems familar. It favors a sword hanger, albeit in this case, made of iron. Still looking that one up.

Nice pictures, by the way. Good close-ups. Good hunting out there!

Richard

 

[Low-Boy/LCPM]

I wish you all the luck, nice finds you have!

 

[mermaiden]

Not very familiar with electrolysis at all - this is the first time I have used it. But I thought that's how it should go.. nice and easy off when it was ready.
Actually I am thinking that a lot of this crud is old dirt. But I am definitely getting good progress. Today I can see some shiny surface on the hook-shaped item starting to show up!!!! So very exciting. I wanted to get pics but too tired after all the turkey-day cooking..... lol. Next time, though.

 

[tab-nabit]

Looks like a good start - I'd work the area since your getting something there. For electrolysis, I haven't tried a battery charger, only the small wall warts - transformers rated maybe half an amp. It's takes awhile. I did try a larger wall wart and the transformer got hot then burned up, so I down sized.
Anyway your finds are interesting - worth going back if it was me.