Relic PIAT bomb restoration

[RRPG]

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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Information

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[browningautorifle]

I have an 81 MM mortar bomb, solid for training, it's the same. Sometimes we have to save what we can get our hands on. I'm with you...mine was easier though.

[CINDERS]

Nice save & job RRPG. It would have been funny going to the freezer and finding an A/T round in there or were those in the house warned about the intention, I would do that to my wife just to get a reaction. A couple of weeks in the sulk room would be worth it .

[RRPG]

BAR - Yep. I couldn't leave this as the rust would destroy it over time

CINDERS - LOL!! That would work if my wife had the first idea of what it was......which she doesn't I didn't tell her, but then she doesn't go in the freezer so there is usually something 'explosive' in there anyway

[CINDERS]

My wife takes an interest in the bank balance when I buy stuff and is pretty switched on about gear and what it looks like but that would be a cool joke she is away may pop a mills 36 in the freezer!

[Flying10uk]

Does anyone have any alternative suggestions for tackling a heavily rusted part/relic to what we have seen in Post 1, please? I have often used the phosphoric acid method of removing rust but one of the problems is that it also tends to remove metal from the object if it is left to stand in a tank of phosphoric acid for long. This can be a problem if the object is only made from thin metal to start with and once the rust and some metal has been removed by the acid, little may be left of the object. The acid will also tend to strip any paint away as has been noted already. I have had some success in removing rust by soaking the object in a tank of diesel and or light mineral oil but I wouldn't say that this is, in any way, a perfect solution. I have heard of people having some success by using electrolysis to remove rust from an object but I have no personal experience of this method and it does sound like that more preparation is needed to set up the process.

It would be interesting to hear of other people's suggestions and ideas for dealing with a heavily rusted relic similar to what is shown in Post 1. Obviously what we are trying to achieve is to remove the rust and corrosion but without doing any further damage to the item; we also want to preserve the item by stopping further corrosion. We certainly don't wish to inadvertently destroy what we are in the process of trying to preserve.

[Peter Laidler]

Big Duke plus others have fully described their own variations of their tried and tested electrolysis methods. You could try looking them up..........

[bigduke6]

I have used the electrolysis method and had excellent results, couple of links below one of a ZF4 scope and 1903 bayonet.

A mild solution of phosphoric acid will do the same, but water, a scrap bit of metal, soap powder and battery charger is a cheaper and safer method, at work we use a Unitor product called Metalbrite, has about 15-30% phosphoric acid, similar kind of products are alloy wheel cleaner etc, white vinegar will also do the trick, I used this along with a electrolysis to clean up my Matchless WD petrol tank.

https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=54108

https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=50556

[RRPG]

I have tried multiple methods over the years. Distilled vinegar, oxalic acid, citric acid, phosphoric acid, electrolysis..........and have to say it all boils down to experience with whatever method you use. Getting the concentration of acid right is the main thing, and knowledge of how long to leave stuff in soak the next. However, I will say that if an object has rusted through and through, no method will save that area of metal, other than spraying something like plasticoat all over it to just hold it together. Many of the objects I recover I get it 'bulk', so finding 40 Lee-enfield No 1 nose caps one day, when preserving them I 'lost' 4 because of how heavy the corrosion was. However, I got 36 preserved examples so it didn't matter.

Thin sheet steel, like the above fin, is difficult to save, but this method, (8% phosphoric acid for 24 hours), has worked very well.

[Flying10uk]

I was surprised to hear of saline (salty water) being used in an electrolysis tank for de-rusting steel and I was doubtful, still am, as to how successful using this solution would be. One would think that saline solution would do more harm than good when in contact with steel.