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Originally Posted by Matchlock
Hi Hotspur,
Olive oil is the so-called tree oil (German Baumöl) that is mentioned in 17th century armory books as the optimal means of cleaning, together with Schmirgel (sand), and preserving iron surfaces, be it armor or arms. Olive oil is the yellowish patina on untouched surfaces of antique arms; if you clean it off you will get a perfectly preserved milky white iron surface with no rust.
I have been using it in my almost 40 years of conservation practice and will stick to it as it is the historic recipe and has proved to work just fine. During the cleaning process you will get no scratches on the iron surface, nor an unnatural shine afterwards.
Best,
Michael
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Thanks, for the followup and explanation. I certainly didn't mean this to be a hit and run, nor derail a topic entirely with my own experiences. While I don't deny old recipes and tradition may have a place in use of maintenance, the materials have been updated with little difference in results. The amount of shine is certainly adjustable with
any abrasives and sand or soil is just that. Oil is generally just as variable but my wonder about the viscosity and real worth of maintaining olive oil as a grail makes me sceptical that it is just tradition and a very subjective method of continuing it in modern conservation.
I recently received an item that was cleaned and conserved simply with soft cloths and paste wax. While it was minimally invasive of its then current state, what that left after a decade or so was simply cloaking dirt and even rust which continued to progress. My point, I guess is that the heavier viscosity of olive oil and any remaining "wax" is simply adding to patina instead of simple cleaning and more serious conservation.
Thanks for the reply
GC