Guns and swords

Late last year I sent a posting regarding oils on metals
(Conservation DistList Instance: 13:37 Monday, January 3, 2000). In
this posting I stated that silicone oils crosslink to form insoluble
compounds. As has been pointed out to me, this in fact does not
happen, and silicone oils are generally quite stable, although it
can still be difficult to remove all traces from an artifact. Any
oil left on the surface will inevitably affect the adherence of
subsequent coatings.

Nonetheless, I would still not recommend applying silicone oils to
artifacts in preference to dry coatings such as waxes or lacquers,
mainly because oils will attract and hold dust to the surface of the
artifact.

George Bailey
Objects Conservator
Australian War Memorial
Treloar Centre for Conservation
4 Callan St, Mitchell, A.C.T. 2911
Australia
+61 2 6243 4440
Fax: +61 2 6241 7998


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:40
                 Distributed: Friday, January 14, 2000
                       Message Id: cdl-13-40-005
                                  ***