another use for naval jelly

[funkman]

We all have dug them up and put them in our treasure chests of misc. artifacts......utensils. Spoons, forks, knives....you know what I am talking about. Well since there is still snow on the ground and I am itching to get something even remotely close to detecting, I decided to go through my chest-o'-metal and start sorting the items to put in individual display cases. I already finished one with my buttons and a small one of the Civil War related artifacts I found. I have plenty of harmonica reeds and even a complete harmonica with wood still there so I am doing one of the displays based on those items. Lastly all the eating utensils that I have acquired in this wonderful adventure we call detecting.

I gathered all the items for the utensil display and saw that they look a bit dirty and such so I had a container of naval jelly and wanted to see if it would get more of the dirt off then what normal washing would do. I know some of you use it for buttons with some gilt still on and tried with one of the spoons and I was surprised that some of the silver or chrome plating started to come back to it former existance.

I have a few more utensils to do but thought you would like to get a look at what a couple looked like. The pic of the two spoons together I had only done the one on the bottom so when you see the second pic you know which spoon to reference to. The third pic shows the spoon that I started this test with. It has a monogram etched into it of "M E M". Not sure if you can see it or not in the pic.

Anyway I have another use for naval jelly apparently. If anyone else has used this product for other finds, please let us know and post before and after pics if possible.

Thanks for checking this post out and Happy Hunting to all those lucky enough to get out there.

Funkman

[stoney56]

Nice tip! Thanks for posting.

[seger98]

Looks like it works pretty good, thanks for posting it!

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

Use it with caution; keep an eye on it;
Strong stuff.


Had it eat through a lock I found.

all have a good un...........
SHERMANVILLE

[funkman]

Thanks Shermanville for your warning....should probably have mentioned it myself. Just so you all know I was using a Q-tip soaked in the jelly and used the q-tip to scrub the item. When done I immediately washed it off. Did not let it soak in the solution for long period. Like Shermanville said, this stuff is pretty harsh.

As a test I also tried it on a small portion of one of the harmonica reeds. This was one of the heavy brass ones, not the flimsy ones I have found as well. The portion on the right was cleaned with the naval jelly and the left of the reed shows what it looked like before.

Funkman