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Restoring faded markings on anvil with ACID... could that work? Could that be thé 'solution' ?

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Michael73

Michael73

Member
May 23, 2022
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The Netherlands
Archeologist/conservators de-rust iron artifacts by soaking them in acid like hydrochloric acid or phosphoric acid.
Now I wonder if that would work on (very) large objects like let's say: an anvil? The idea is to bring back those faded makers marks, weights and dates and such... hmmm...
 
I sometimes nip over to a place that sells secondhand tools from house clearances and so on, I have likely rehomed quite a few dead mans tools.
Anyway, quite a few have a good bit of rust on them and in order to see the details of the stamps on them I usually give em a rub over with Garryflex blocks (not with old handsaws as they have been etched and it removes too much for that) and by and large that does the job nicely.
Garryflex blocks are basically like a jumbo industrial version of pen erasers. Rubber block, impregnated with an abrasive.
As they're rubber they have a bit of give and get into nooks a bit better than most abrasives.
They come in several grades and for the rough work of just getting the stamps visible I start off with a fairly coarse (red) one.
Years ago I used to work as a welder and weld inspector and when I did my Lloyds tests the welds were bent 180 degrees round a radius, cut across, then acid etched to show the various runs that made up a multipass weld and expose greater detail in general.

Given the choice, I'm not right keen on messing about with stuff like phosphoric acid anymore than I absolutely have to.
Make what you want from all that and it might not work for you but even if it doesnt, those blocks are great for cleaning other tools up.
 
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there may be so useful info Im about to put but mostly Ive used with ultrasonic cleaner.
I have used Molassas only as a soak it is amazing stuff, very slow and gentle, some people water it down if theyre doing a soaking process, you can use it neat but its messy cleanup (did a shed load of copper coins using neat molassas over night once, all were brand new looking in the morning but took a fair time to rinse away) on steel Ive also used "Harpic" power plus 10x better than bleach product (yes the toilet bowl cleaner) the item to be de rusted and Harpic in a ziplock bag so the Harpic can be saved & re used, placed in the ultrasonic cleaner with water used to fill the ultrasonic cleaner infact its my goto product, its unreal how fast it works. (I've not tried using it without the ultrasonic cleaner) many other products work, citric acid is good too. (heat makes the products work better).
 
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Update:

It worked!
It's an Attwood anvil from Stourbridge, England.
Estimated date of birth somewhere between 1830 and 1850.
Fortunately I found a large enough container to fit the anvil in and using electrolysis I managed to expose what remained of the makers markings (....OOD and ...ANTE...-warranted-) , as well as the weight markings (3-0-0).
So there it is, the old lady now has a name and a history!
 
Michael73 said:
Update:

It worked!
It's an Attwood anvil from Stourbridge, England.
Estimated date of birth somewhere between 1830 and 1850.
Fortunately I found a large enough container to fit the anvil in and using electrolysis I managed to expose what remained of the makers markings (....OOD and ...ANTE...-warranted-) , as well as the weight markings (3-0-0).
So there it is, the old lady now has a name and a history!
Click to expand...
Nicely done. :)

I don't suppose you took any pictures of the process by any chance
 
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