The nutguard discussed a few weeks ago has now been removed from its desalination bath. It was dried under a fan overnight then coated with a tannic acid solution to stabilize the surface. It was necessary to carefully scrape away numerous large flakes of rust from all over the surfaces of the object before the tannic acid could work. As the flakes came away bright metal was visible. The entire surface had an even black color once the tannic acid had been applied. A coat of acrylic lacquer was applied to give it some moisture protection and the object was photographed and placed on a padded mount for long term storage.

The most delicate part of the treatment was preserving a large iron fragment connected to the edge of the nutguard by just a tiny ribbon of metal. A cloth band on the storage mount secures it to prevent it from moving.

The treatment process of this extremely fragile wrought iron nutguard has provided us with new insight into how best to treat the rest of the fragile nutguards in the turret.

-Josiah