Many people think that relic condition WW2 artefacts aren't worth saving or collecting. I thought I'd show you what you can do with even the most rust filled, banged up and dirty relic.
A week or two ago I acquired a relic PIAT bomb. Well, it has now been de-rusted and cleaned. I used strong phosphoric acid solution dabbed on the rust on the painted areas (45%), leaving for 10 minutes then rinsing off. I repeated this a few times until I noticed the paint start to flake so stopped, but I had already removed quite a bit of rust.
The front cone had a couple of major dings in it so I took it round a friend's house to see if we could pry the two cones apart. My friend advised against this, instead suggesting I fill the cone with water and bung it in the freezer to get the ice to push out the dings. This worked very well, but on the third pass through the freezer, the dings were pushed out further but the cones were pushed apart!! Minor disaster! However, it turned out to be a blessing as I could then use the old 'Smack it wiv a hammer!' technique to flatten the dings out.
I then got a 2 litre plastic bottle, made up an 8% phosphoric acid solution, placed the PIAT in the bottle and poured the phosphoric acid solution up to where the paint was still intact. Left for 24 hours, rinsed, neutralised, rinsed again, scrubbed with a Brillo pad, dried. I then gave the painted areas a protective coat of wax and placed a practice No 426 fuze in the nose to finish it all off.
It has come out rather nice, don't you think?![]()
: ) You can just make out the word 'INERT' on the body.
Oh, and it just goes to show, you're never too smart to get, and TAKE, good advice off people! Not only that, but even rusty relics can be turned into excellent, clean, corrosion free, display pieces.
Pictures below show before and after shots.
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