My Whopper Chopper before & After

[Neogeo]

I was gifted this sweet artifact by a good buddy.It was mostly covered with limestone deposits.So I soaked it in vinegar for two days.(changing the vinegar out everyday)It comes off the worked part alot better then where cortex was.
before

after

[naturegirl]

Thanks for the before and after, 'specially the before That looks like a heavy-duty utensil.

[Tnmountains]

That is cool. Who would have thought all that was under there? Makes a better display fopr sure.I think Tree has been using muratic acid on some he finds that are heavily calcified (sp)?.

[The Grim Reaper]

That cleaned up pretty good. Thanks for the pics Frank.

[Neogeo]

thanx gang...I don't like to mess with them too much,but that one was covered.

[catherine1]

I tried the vinegar dip last night on a test piece. I only let it soak for about 5 hours. I could not tell a difference. I guess patience is a virtue. It really cleaned that wopper/chopper up! Almost all my finds have heavy mineralization. And the larger the worst. Thanks for the info/post.

[Neanderthal]

I tried the vinegar dip last night on a test piece. I only let it soak for about 5 hours. I could not tell a difference. I guess patience is a virtue. It really cleaned that wopper/chopper up! Almost all my finds have heavy mineralization. And the larger the worst. Thanks for the info/post.

It all depends on what concretions or stains you are messing with. For heavy deposits you can usually use a mixture of muriatic acid and water. Mix it really light though and do a lot of testing on spare pieces. Muriatic is used to clean concrete and does a great job, but you only want to use it as a last resort and in moderation.

Lemon juice will remove most of the toughest stains (tanin, etc). But again, use it in moderation. It also will take off other deposits if you aren't careful. Be sure to mix it with water, pure lemon juice is some tough stuff.

Greg Perino used to soak a lot of points in vinegar before examining them. I prefer to just use good old tap water. If you are wondering about a stain or deposit, try some acetone. Acetone will remove most oil based substances, but won't touch most authentic stains or deposits. If you wet a q-tip with acetone and it's removing all of your color...worry, there's a very high chance that the "stain" on it is not authentic.

[iowa trout]

Wow that piece really came to life and so cool no calcium here in Iowa, some creek finds I have are like tannin stained fall leaf decay maybee would the methods mentioned also work for this?

[coteau]

That's a cool artifact - a tool that could do a few jobs... It looks like a 2 million year old Oldowan tradition tool made by Homo habilis. Are you sure it's not from Africa?

[Neogeo]

That's a cool artifact - a tool that could do a few jobs... It looks like a 2 million year old Oldowan tradition tool made by Homo habilis. Are you sure it's not from Africa?

That may be the only way to make this artifact any cooler...har

[flintdigger]

Good looking chopper, it really cleaned up nice.

[Molly.]

Good job Neo.

Molly.

[Neogeo]

Thanx guy's & gals...I am very happy with it.

[Produce Guy]

Just wondering what part of Austin are you finding all these great rocks in?

[Boomdeyada]

Nice Chopper. We find them on our property, got a bucket full of them. Not sure what to do with them but they are sure neat to collect with the other indian stuff we find.
Amazing what the vinager can do.
Happy hunting
Boom De Yada

[choo]

Nice Chopper Neo! it cleaned up really good.