Just finished cleaning and preserving this stuff today I use steel wool then crisco on the iron, it works good. Third pic is some other dump finds, including alot of porcelain lined jar lids.
I have tried andle wax and some other waxes but they just dont seem to work as tehy are too thick and pasty. But i did find that crisco doesnt go bad, I dug out some iron things that i had used it on last summer and they seem to have stayed in good condtion and the crisco didnt go rancid
Heres a few pics of some stuff. The first one is my area i clean finds in(I soak em in water untill i can get around to preserving them. The next pic is a strap hinge from an old barn that i am cleaning, the next pic is of my collection of porcelain lined jar lids and stuff, heres a few iv got so far: Consolidated Fruit Jar Co. Boyd's Genuine Porcelain Lined A.C. Smalley & Co Boston & New York The Hero Glass Works Philadelphia Pa and a few others.... The next pic is a mini jar lid.
So much for that stuff! Doesn't mention metals, so I would say forget it.
I like the soap dish. Do you suppose you could sand down the edges where it's broken and put it back in use? Still has a rather nice shape. Or is that considered a no-no
Its actaully not that sharp, because its made of milkglass and has been worn down from being in the ground.
I use it to put my cleaned coins on next to the sink when i get back from detecting
After you clean your iron items and you've applied the crisco. If they are small items that will fit in your oven, turn the oven up to 400 degrees and let it set for about 30 minutes. This will let the crisco get into the pores of the iron. This is how I season my cast iron cookware. You will not have to worry about it rusting.
Never thoguht of cooking it, but i do leave it in the sun for a day or two and keep applying new coats till its done, i guess i was doing a slower form or cooking it
Thanks for the advice conservator I think I should make some form of electrolysis machine.... But being 15 and broke i think it may be kinda tough, is there an easy way to make an electrolysis machine from say, household materials and such? I know of the one floater made, but i find some pretty large iron relics and i dont think a coffee container would handle it I have some kiwi shoe polish but ill have to buy some of the other stuff. Thanks once again conservator, you are a great help on this site