A question of timber and wood.

[fearn]

You've got a couple of big problems....IF you use the fireplace.

One is that hot material will degrade (e.g. age) faster. Refrigerators work on the reverse principle, and forgers use sometimes heat to make their stuff look older than it is.

A second is that if something is warm, it will expand, and different materials have different thermal expansion rates. In other words, that complex hilt probably will work itself apart if heated and cooled repeatedly, because some materials will expand and contract faster than others will.

Another, bigger problem is that you can get a temperature gradient across the object if it's 30 degrees warmer on one side than the other. Remember that thermal expansion coefficient? Warm one side of the hilt, and watch it crack even faster.

So basically, you've got some options:
1. Don't hang something on or near a hot chimney
2. Don't use that fireplace while the collection is near it.
3. (probably a good idea anyway) install a couple of recording thermometers and humidity sensors around your chimney display, and get some data on that environment before you introduce your collection to it. If it's no different than the where your stuff is now, no problem. If it is very different, well, start figuring out how you're going to fix it before the move.

My 0.00000000002 cents,

F

[Gavin Nugent]

Thanks Guys,

Alan's advise is siple and easy to follow, wise words by the sound of it.
Jose, Barry, Fearn, certainly lots there to think about too, thank you it somewhat quantifies certain levels of exposure and what to expect and some good insight into preperation of the area should I be silly enough to ignore words of wisdom...I think the area will be off limits :-( It would have looked so good there too.

Gav