Real Iron - Sort of

[un2xs]

A friend passed away a few years ago. He left behind an old Belgian SxS hammer wall hanger. I am very certain it will never be fired again... ever. Based on the proof marks it is most likely no newer than 1897.

I had almost forgotten about It when I came across it standing neglected in the apartment. It had severe surface rust, most notably on the barrels.

I got the worst of it off with 0000 steel wool and some oil, but it still should probably have more attention.

My question is what else, if anything, should I do with this old piece? Should I take it apart and ultrasonic the pieces? If so, in what solution? How much harm might I have already done with the steel wool? Any tips you can give me for what will at best be display piece? (I suspect it is worthless to anybody but me because of my ties to my deceased friend.)

Thanks

[Frmrspec]

Do you have pictures? If it’s legitimate iron you could soak it in a electrolysis bath to remove/replace the rust.. then chemically black it so the surface holds onto oil so it won’t rust easily

[Magageddon]

if you go on youtube, check out the backyard ballistics channel. He goes into depth in his videos for restoring and conserving badly rusted firearms. You might find some useful processes/info there.

[markdem]

Electrolysis. You can google how to do it yourself or you can try find someone that does it. Think anodizing/electroplating, but in reverse

Steel wool wont do any real harm besides taking the surface finish off. Sounds like the finish is fucked from rust anyways so you got nothing to loose

I personally like patina, so i would leave it alone. But if you want to make it nice and shiny, i would go with any of the modern technologies. The older ways of doing things are pretty much only done for nostalgia. They usually result in a low shine that equires upkeep

[Axel]

There's also DuraCoat. It's not authentic for 1897, but they have lots of options if you want to keep it looking more or less correct (or crazy, too). You could hit it with naval jelly first since the finish is already gone to remove the rust entirely

There's always re-bluing which you can have done through a local gun shop. They could also give you an opinion on whether it would be safe to fire if that's something you want to be able to do. Personally that's what I'd do, since it's collector value is probably gone with the rust and steel wool

Also I demand pictars 😁

[un2xs]

Hoping this works. (Not used to new phone.)

Hmmmmm... Not all pics made it, but enough to show the wall hanger.

[un2xs]

[RuleOfSines]

Sweet mercy that is beautiful