Throwing in the towel, Winter project time. Dec 16th pics enclosed at bottom...

pcgs69

Think it's done... snow thursday, snow today, teens and 20s temps... think it's time to throw in the towel. It's supposed to get into the 40s for the next couple of days, but it would have to melt the snow and make sure the ground is thawed... but not taking off work to find out, haha.

This axe head came from a farm that's yielded relics/coins from the 1700s to today. I think it was found last year (2011), and just sitting around since. Figure it's time to clean this thing. On Treasurenet, members have had luck with Apple Cider Vinegar, soaking for a week or two and using a wire brush to get the rust off. Results have been pretty impressive. Got some ACV and just put it in a soak. Let's see how this thing will turn out. Hopefully it doesn't break. Can't be sure of the age, maybe 1700s, but could be as new as the early 1900s.

Will post periodically showing its status.

HH for those who can!

ricko

Neat find and an interesting project..... if the ACV does not do much, try EasyOff, the oven cleaner....works great on old cast iron frying pans without harming the metal. Cheers, RickO

windwhispersintrees

Use electricity. Electrolysis.

johnny9434

thats good to know about the easy off. keep us posted on that turns out pcgs, i do hope that cleans up real nice for ya

pcgs69

I was considering electrolysis, but this seems more... "set it and forget it." Results from other people using ACV appear to be pretty good, so we'll give it a shot to begin with. Didn't imagine the whole place would smell like vinegar though. Didn't think that one through!

Here's day two:

Finally got the dirt out of the handle hole (is there a term for it?). Some of the outside layer has chipped off, which is good. Just worried the tip end will break off, but it doesn't look too horrible just yet.

GBurger717

If your going to clean it do it the right way. Check out this video on youtube. ITS SIMPLE.. I do it on Civil War arillery shells all the time along with other dug relics. Its the only true way to prevent the rust from comeing back
CLEAN METAL

pcgs69

Just about a week in...

pcgs69

Alright, she's starting to look pretty good! Took a wire brush drill bit to it for a few minutes to see if that would help. The side facing up in the container looks better. Will put the "down" side up now for a bit.

johnny9434

thats starting to shape up pretty good

pcgs69

Alright, she's pretty much done. What do you guys think? Now that there's some detail, I'll poke around to see if someone can guess its age.

Apple Cider Vinegar works pretty good!

demodigger

That looks great. I've dug loads of old iron. I may try this out also. I use my acv for smoking pork ribs. Never thought of using for relics

kiyote

That's some great advice, as I have about six old axe heads laying around in bad shape as well.