Scared to put in electrolysis so thin. Any suggestions? I dug this last year and it went into my iron tub. Duh! It was a water find..
Like to at least preserve what is left.
Box Wrench for Model 1841 Mississippi Rifle and 1842 Musket
Well this is as far as I am going to take this relic. Any further electrolysis was eating the screw driver blade off. The soldier had probably broken the other one off. At least you can tell what it is now. I found it in a Civil war era creek crossing on Chickamauga Creek.
What this relic tells me and why preserve it? It tells me that during this battle so late in the war that a confederate soldier was still using an older weapon an m1841 Mississippi rifle.The Mississippi rifle was sometimes referred to as a "yagger" rifle, due to its smaller size and its similarity to the German Jäger rifles. It was often re-bored as well to fit the .58 caliber. Confederate cavalry and sharpshooter units used them until the end of the war, as evidenced by surviving Confederate ordnance requisitions.
Never know what you might find in your rusty iron box!