Period rust prevention

[John Maddox Roberts]

Mates:

On other topics, the subject has come up that the sea climate is especially inimical to ferrous metals: i.e. they rust like a bugger. There are some remedies for this: for one, use brass as much as possible. For another, paint iron heavily. But some iron things were left bright: sword blades and musket barrels most notably. My question is, what did they use for rust prevention besides crew elbow grease? They had whale oil, but that was hellishly expensive and was used mainly for lubricating delicate instruments ike watches. In the Med. they had olive oil, but it gets rancid in the heat. Animal fat gets disgusting, not that they were squeamish. So what were they likely to use? Petroleum products were unknown and I don't know when mineral oil came into use. Beeswax might work, but once again it was expensive. What was the 17th-18th century 3-in-one? What was the pyrate's Break-Free?

[the Royaliste]

"Hmmm, several questions within a question..Rust prevention???...one word.......Pinetar..............Break-free??..dunno, vinegar, wax....."

[El Pirata]

"Hmmm, several questions within a question..Rust prevention???...one word.......Pinetar..............Break-free??..dunno, vinegar, wax....."

C'mon there mariner they used osfo.

[Billie Bonnie]

The Gazella had some cool rust

There was this big nasty rusty sanitary tank that needed to be removed, we took it out, and found tons of debris....including a rats nest from when the Gazella was still a fishing ship in Portugal back in 1883-1969...inside the nest was ...(no...not a really old rat)...newspaper clippings in Portuguese ! And a whole lot of rust.

I think we kept it .... I put a label on it that said " Authentic historic rat's nest"

Oh, the originial question on rust....a whole ton of pine tar ! As well as wax as the Royaliste said. On preservation in general...the reason the Gazella was preserved so well was because she was a fishing ship....her hold was filled with salt, and the fish were put there to be preserved for the voyage home....the salt kept the wood preserved as well !

Here is Gazella's page:

http://www.gazela.org

-Billie-

PS: osfo is good too

[Hawkyns]

Best period oil/preservative I've found is bear oil. A close second is a paste made from lamb or deer fat mixed with beeswax. Both are documentably period. For scouring rust off, take a piece of thin (3-4 oz) leather, oil one side of it, then put powdered brick dust on the oil. Works real well.

Bear oil is tough to find, but is generally available at rendezvous or trade fairs. I'm hoping that after the hunt in New Jersey, it will be more available in the East.

Hawkyns

[Zorg]

Most o the period stuff Ive seen preserved was browned, forced into a a light, controlled coate of rust with vinegar or urine and then waxed. The Brown Bess may have gotten her name from that process.

[Black Deacon]

Animal renderings (i.e Lard) And they did have petroleum products. They just weren't refined. But oil/grease in various forms has be used for centuries.

[crow]

Most o the period stuff Ive seen preserved was browned, forced into a a light, controlled coate of rust with vinegar or urine and then waxed. The Brown Bess may have gotten her name from that process.

The prossess was called browning the steel originally in the white was treated with a mild acidic solution untill a fine layer of rust formed then that rust was rubbed with a fine abraisive and the prossess was repeated untill the metal reached the desired colour . The gun barrel was the oiled or waxxed so that the layer of rust and oil protected the metal from the elements. hence the name " Brown Bess ".

[Deacon Frye]

      Muskets issued to regular regiments prior to the American Revolution were expected to be brightly polished.  Cuthbertson in 1768, writing on the British Army considered the polished musket as a sign of pride and profession.  Orders for the Nottinghamshire Markman in 1778 highlighted its importance:

"..Such being the importance of his Arms, no wonder that a soldier should shew his attachment to his Firelock, by keeping it as bright as the Sun, and looking upon it with a kind of veneration. A glittering Firelock is a prime ornament of a Soldier and gives to every movement an appearance of double Life and Spirit."

In some instances bright arms had unexpected results.  During the American Revolution just before the Battle of Guildford Courthouse, the American General Lee was thrown from his startled mount caused by the sun reflecting off the bright arms of the opposing British troops.(1)

    The preference for bright barrels continued amongst line regiments throughout the Napoleonic Wars.  James wrote in his Military Dictionary in 1805:  "the private soldier familiarly calls his firelock brown bess; although the term is little applicable to the weapon, considering that it is absurdly polished in almost every Regiment in the British Army."  One soldier, Shadrack Byfield of the 41st Regiment, used this to identify friend from foe in the night after the capture of Fort Niagara in 1813: "A short time after, we saw another man, with polished arms, by which I knew he must be one of our men...He belonged to the Royals." ...

More at:

From Bright Steel to Brown: Colour of Brown Bess Barrels, 1757-1815, by Robert Henderson.

[hitman]

There are several refrences to pine tar in this thread by that do you mean turpentine? It was of course widely avalible and the home turff of Black Beard himself was the Brits perrfered source of export. (the carolinas) If not turpentine do you mean raw pine tar I would find this difficult to belive given its nature witch (points to his avatar) I am quite familliar with.

[CaptRehab]

As a member of the Lexington Minute Men I have used a Pedersoli reproduction of a 1777 musket of the Charleville patern. I find it easier to break down and clean than the Brown Bess. After 11 years of use my musket is still bright and shiny. Yes it will start to rust by the afternoon if you are out in wet weather, and I am certain that salt spray would rapidly accelerate the corrosion process. As for protection I use beeswax and tallow (bore butter) when I disassemble and clean my musket, except for the lock which gets wiped down and coated with a light oil. The bore butter is great inside the barrel where the sulfurous residue of the powder accelerates the corrosion process. After you have fired enough times the heat acutally causes the bore butter to season the inside of the barrel much like you would do to a new cast iron skillet. By the way do not put anything on the face of the frizzen, it will get scoured by the flint anyway.

['Salem Bob']

To the best of my knowledge, rust prevention during the era in question on shipboard consisted of

1. 'jappaning' - painting a surface exposed to the elements in a sort of laquer or paint made of 'asphaltum', turpentine, and the like

2. painting with red lead or white lead

3. keeping well greased with tallow

British Sea Service muskets came in two flavours, in a long 'bright' pattern, and a short 'black. the black was jappaned all over it's surface, and was prefered to use in boat actions during the night, and the like.

bare metal was problematic for rust, even tallowed. Some ships captains ordered things like boarding pikes kept bright, with the woodwork scrapped, some prefered them jappaned or painted. The ones left bright tended to have a shorter surface life, due to their surface being thinned through repeated sandings and polishings.

Many, many naval weapons are only recognisable as such today due to traces of jappaning on them.

[MinRat]

From my experience with swords, the oil will rust the metal. They have to be cleaned every week.

['Salem Bob']

It depends on the oil. Some oils actually have a small water content. Tallow does work well - their is a German 16th century burgonet in a collection in the UK that had seen about a centuries active service, who's surface is as fine as the day it was made - the boarder Riever who owned the helmet rubbed it on a regular basis with sheep tallow. The only 'adverse' effect was it turned the helmet to a slight golden colour.

[John Maddox Roberts]

Not to mention what it must've smelled like. In Kenya years ago I bought a Maasai throwing stick that had been smoked and polished with goat fat. For years afterward, people would ask what was that weird smell in my study.