Cleaning an ancient bronze relic

[Urien of Rheged]

Awaiting a meet up with my local find liason officer to take thismid Bronze age spearhead i found last week to be analysed and recorded by the portable antiquities scheme (UK) I'm dying to get the crud off it and with just ketchup and a cloth with tepid water ive managed to remove a fair bit but it's stubborn and im reluctant to go at it any harder with such a magnificent + 3000 year old relic like this.
Anyone know any good non abrasive methods to remove dirt like this from a Bronze alloy?

 

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[DizzyDigger]

Honestly, I would do nothing more, give it to them and let the experts do the cleaning.

 

[Bucket Lister]

Can anyone tell me why the corrosion is orange instead of green?

 

[Urien of Rheged]

Can anyone tell me why the corrosion is orange instead of green?

Having been back to the area just today and having dug a bloody deep hole while I was there finding a horse shoe for my toil, the soil is very Sandy so assuming the crud is that, and after a few thousand years its turned into sandstone

 

[pepperj]

Awaiting a meet up with my local find liason officer to take thismid Bronze age spearhead i found last week to be analysed and recorded by the portable antiquities scheme (UK) I'm dying to get the crud off it and with just ketchup and a cloth with tepid water ive managed to remove a fair bit but it's stubborn and im reluctant to go at it any harder with such a magnificent + 3000 year old relic like this.
Anyone know any good non abrasive methods to remove dirt like this from a Bronze alloy?

You can go forward but you can never go back if you went too far.

There is a member that lives in Germany.
He does restoration work and posts the results on the forum ever so often.
Maybe send him a pm for advise.
@Tom_Restorer
Thread 'Tom´s Restorations' https://www.treasurenet.com/threads/tom-s-restorations.563526/

 

[Urien of Rheged]

You can go forward but you can never go back if you went too far.

There is a member that lives in Germany.
He does restoration work and posts the results on the forum ever so often.
Maybe send him a pm for advise.
@Tom_Restorer
Thread 'Tom´s Restorations' https://www.treasurenet.com/threads/tom-s-restorations.563526/

So true. I am ever cautious having once broken a brooch pin while messing. Not worth The risk.
I was hoping more for some other reccomendation, perhaps spmething even more effective than tormato ketchup and warm water. Ive cleaned plenty of silver but not so much bronze alloys.
I still haven't managed to find a spearhead similar to this one too Pepper which is starting to gnaw at me.
There are different classifications but I can't find any matching. The nearest thing I've seen is what some random bloke reproduces and he says it's an Irish "county mayo" type.
being in the north west of England and just across the water Irish influences and recorded finds go back millennia in fact this Spearhead was found in a valley that forms a gap in the pennine hills and has been recognised as a traveller/trade route going down to York, the river Number and then Europe.

At just 10 cm exactly from tip to base this spear head seems also to be very small in comparison to others ive been looking at online. It must have been made to be used as a projectile weapon rather than a weapon to fight at close quarters against an armed enemy, where i think it would be basically get laughed at.
it's not much bigger than a middle age longbow arrowhead.
Not that im criticising it though, if not technologically then aesthetically the Bronze age produced the best weaponry with swords that look like they're by Elves from Middle Earth.
It truly is a beautiful artefact and its going to take something incredibly awesome to top as a MD find thats for certain.
I just need to know everything I can about it. Starting with its classification and perhaps then an inkling as tonits origin.

 

[Urien of Rheged]

Can anyone tell me why the corrosion is orange instead of green?

I was back in that field again yesterday and its soil is quite an anomaly to be fair and also I learned a timely reminder about being too gung ho with relics.
There are areas of sandstone in my region but I tend to detect over millstone grit, limestone and in river valleys (alluvial?) I'm no geologist.
But I think this field was at some time a sand quarry, it goes from flat to a sharp gradient that looks like its been worked over the ages.
On my way down this slope I picked up what I thought was a bent up old faceless copper coin.
I was so unimpressed and certain it was copper that I casually and carelessly straightened the bent but snapping it in the process. When I looked at the part ofnthe coin pressed together and not subjected to the environment I instantly recognised it was silver and hammered.
It's very worn thankfully so I haven't broke anything to get upset over but it is a timely reminder not to be cavalier and also a lesson that Sand does ingrain and stain relics and coins. And that not all silver looks silver.
I'll give it a clean ypnand post the results. It's post medieval probably Elizabeth I.

 

[Tom_Restorer]

You can go forward but you can never go back if you went too far.

There is a member that lives in Germany.
He does restoration work and posts the results on the forum ever so often.
Maybe send him a pm for advise.
@Tom_Restorer
Thread 'Tom´s Restorations' https://www.treasurenet.com/threads/tom-s-restorations.563526/

Hey Pepper, thanks for mention me!

@Urien,
you can remove the encrustions with a small scalpel blade. Not the medical ones which are too large and vibrates if you scrape away encrustions! This vibration can cause damages to softer patina.
I use for coins, bronzes etc. 30° blades (not the typical 45° blades!) for cutter knives, insert in a designer knive . They are very stable and much easier to use than medical scalpel blades and you can also use more pressure when needet. Also much cheaper!
For Traces that can not be removed that way, you can use a silver brush or rotating fine wire brusches for a Dremel.
The bonze is stable and has no chlorides in it, so a simple cover with Renaissance Wax is all it needs.

Here is a coin I cleaned with such blades: