ThatCannonballGuy
New member
I originally wrote this information with the intention of posting it as a reply to Thinkin2 [Jerry] in the "Cannon ball question" thread here in the relic-hunting forum. But I think the information would be noticed by a lot more diggers if it was posted as a "new message subject" of its own.
There will be a special note to Birdman about his recently-dug cannonball near the end of this post.
Thinkin2 [Jerry] wrote:
"Electrolysis is the first step in the preservation process and this can take a
long time in some cases. For shells dug near saltwater it can take up to a year
to do it right and even then you might lose the shell if there's been too much
salt corrosion."
All of the following is intended only as helpful clarification/correction of
Jerry's posted info. In the past 32 years I have done Electrolysis on about 600 civil-war artillery shells. I've also deactivated about 1,000 shells (every one safely).
There are three "categories" of the CHEMICAL soil-conditions which affect
long-buried iron relics:
High-ground (well-drained soil, such as a hillside)
Non-saltwater lowground soil (such as a swamp, or even a low creekbank)
Saltwater low-ground soil (such as a coastal saltmarsh).
Each of those three soil-chemistry environments have a significantly DIFFERENT AFFECT on the
relic's iron ...which must be carefully considered when we attempt to preserve the
relic by using either Electrolysis or Zinc-&-Lye Bath to remove the rust/soil
concretion from the relic.
Iron (unlike brass, copper, silver, lead, etc) is a very porous metal. The thousands of microscopic pores
can permit salts and acids to penetrate past the iron's "skin," sometimes - but
not always - deeply within the relic.
If saltwater is given decades to penetrate the iron, when the relic is
excavated and it dries out, the salt gradually forms crystals which can literally
crack the relic's skin into fragments.
Swampwater (or any "stagnant" surface groundwater) contains tannic acid - from decaying leaves. In such water the
tannic acid is very weak ...but given decades, it can cause serious "leaching"
of iron molecules from out of the "skin" of the iron relic. What is left behind in that
relic's skin is the carbon (specifically, the mineral known as Graphite) that
was in the original iron ore. This is why we artillery-shell collectors tend to
call a swamp-dug shell a "graphitized" shell. The skin of such shells resembles
pencil-lead (which is actually Graphite). It can be quite soft.
NOTE: As in the case of the cannonball dug by Birdman, though he wasn't digging in a swamp, the soil was very wet at the bottom of the hole he dug the cannonball out of. Though the surface-dirt in the area wasn't muddy, his cannonball had laid in SUB-SURFACE tannic-acid groundwater for more than a century and it "graphitized" his canonball's iron.
"Graphitized"
relics MUST NOT be cleaned by either Electrolysis or Zinc-&-Lye Bath. Delicate
chipping is the only cleaning/preservation method recommended for "graphitized"
relics.
High-Ground excavated iron relics respond quite well to a short treatment of
Electrolysis (24 hours) ...or Zinc-&-Lye Bath (48 hours). Only SALTWATER-soil
iron relics need a year of Electrolysis.
Thinkin2 [Jerry] also wrote:
"But whatever you do don't start the electrolysis process until you disarm the
shell if it's not a solid ball. The electrolysis could cause the powder to
ignite."
That is not correct in regard to EXCAVATED civil-war artillery shells.
(Everybody please note my strong emphasis on the word EXCAVATED in the that
statement.) To my knowledge, not a single one of the many thousands of
EXCAVATED civil-war shells which have been put into Electrolysis has exploded
during Electrolysis.
Thinkin2 [Jerry] also wrote:
"If you go to an EOD team, either police or military, they are probably going to
blow the thing to render it safe and then maybe you can keep some fragments."
Not just probably ...but definitely, absolutely, positively, they're going to
blow it up. The days when the police or military EOD would deactivate a shell
for you are (unfortunately) long-gone. Diggers & collectors must now take their
shells to another digger/collector for deactivation. I'm sure somebody here can
provide you a referral to one of the (few) "private professionals" who do
thorough civil-war shell deactivations.
Thinkin2 [Jerry] also wrote:
"Check with some of the other relic hunters you know and try to get in touch
with someone who knows how to do this. It isn't hard but you have to know what
you're dealing with and CAUTION is priority one. If you can't find anyone to
help you please don't try to do it yourself, assuming you have no experience
[...]. No artifact is worth risking your life."
I agree 100% with that wise advice.
Regards,
TheCannonballGuy [Pete George]
There will be a special note to Birdman about his recently-dug cannonball near the end of this post.
Thinkin2 [Jerry] wrote:
"Electrolysis is the first step in the preservation process and this can take a
long time in some cases. For shells dug near saltwater it can take up to a year
to do it right and even then you might lose the shell if there's been too much
salt corrosion."
All of the following is intended only as helpful clarification/correction of
Jerry's posted info. In the past 32 years I have done Electrolysis on about 600 civil-war artillery shells. I've also deactivated about 1,000 shells (every one safely).
There are three "categories" of the CHEMICAL soil-conditions which affect
long-buried iron relics:
High-ground (well-drained soil, such as a hillside)
Non-saltwater lowground soil (such as a swamp, or even a low creekbank)
Saltwater low-ground soil (such as a coastal saltmarsh).
Each of those three soil-chemistry environments have a significantly DIFFERENT AFFECT on the
relic's iron ...which must be carefully considered when we attempt to preserve the
relic by using either Electrolysis or Zinc-&-Lye Bath to remove the rust/soil
concretion from the relic.
Iron (unlike brass, copper, silver, lead, etc) is a very porous metal. The thousands of microscopic pores
can permit salts and acids to penetrate past the iron's "skin," sometimes - but
not always - deeply within the relic.
If saltwater is given decades to penetrate the iron, when the relic is
excavated and it dries out, the salt gradually forms crystals which can literally
crack the relic's skin into fragments.
Swampwater (or any "stagnant" surface groundwater) contains tannic acid - from decaying leaves. In such water the
tannic acid is very weak ...but given decades, it can cause serious "leaching"
of iron molecules from out of the "skin" of the iron relic. What is left behind in that
relic's skin is the carbon (specifically, the mineral known as Graphite) that
was in the original iron ore. This is why we artillery-shell collectors tend to
call a swamp-dug shell a "graphitized" shell. The skin of such shells resembles
pencil-lead (which is actually Graphite). It can be quite soft.
NOTE: As in the case of the cannonball dug by Birdman, though he wasn't digging in a swamp, the soil was very wet at the bottom of the hole he dug the cannonball out of. Though the surface-dirt in the area wasn't muddy, his cannonball had laid in SUB-SURFACE tannic-acid groundwater for more than a century and it "graphitized" his canonball's iron.
"Graphitized"
relics MUST NOT be cleaned by either Electrolysis or Zinc-&-Lye Bath. Delicate
chipping is the only cleaning/preservation method recommended for "graphitized"
relics.
High-Ground excavated iron relics respond quite well to a short treatment of
Electrolysis (24 hours) ...or Zinc-&-Lye Bath (48 hours). Only SALTWATER-soil
iron relics need a year of Electrolysis.
Thinkin2 [Jerry] also wrote:
"But whatever you do don't start the electrolysis process until you disarm the
shell if it's not a solid ball. The electrolysis could cause the powder to
ignite."
That is not correct in regard to EXCAVATED civil-war artillery shells.
(Everybody please note my strong emphasis on the word EXCAVATED in the that
statement.) To my knowledge, not a single one of the many thousands of
EXCAVATED civil-war shells which have been put into Electrolysis has exploded
during Electrolysis.
Thinkin2 [Jerry] also wrote:
"If you go to an EOD team, either police or military, they are probably going to
blow the thing to render it safe and then maybe you can keep some fragments."
Not just probably ...but definitely, absolutely, positively, they're going to
blow it up. The days when the police or military EOD would deactivate a shell
for you are (unfortunately) long-gone. Diggers & collectors must now take their
shells to another digger/collector for deactivation. I'm sure somebody here can
provide you a referral to one of the (few) "private professionals" who do
thorough civil-war shell deactivations.
Thinkin2 [Jerry] also wrote:
"Check with some of the other relic hunters you know and try to get in touch
with someone who knows how to do this. It isn't hard but you have to know what
you're dealing with and CAUTION is priority one. If you can't find anyone to
help you please don't try to do it yourself, assuming you have no experience
[...]. No artifact is worth risking your life."
I agree 100% with that wise advice.
Regards,
TheCannonballGuy [Pete George]
Really ,really good stuff. I am gonna give it a shot this weekend!!