Digging a new flower bed in the back of our 82-year-old apartment building,
we found ourselves unearthing a very old small landfill with all sorts of
interesting items.

Among them is what appears to be a toy pistol, or possibly even a real
pistol. But it is totally covered with heavy, heavy mud and rust.

I boiled this in salt, then salt and vinegar, but nothing gets it off.

Any ideas welcome.

The usual thing is reverse electrolosys.

muriatic acid will do the trick.
try it at about 5 percent solution first. let it soak for a few hours and
see if the crusty stuff has softened. With a stronger solution, you can
actually see the iron oxide fizzing, but don't get carried away with the
solution strength. It eats away the substrate metal too, just more slowly.
If the metal is zinc based like many old toy guns, you probably won't be
able to salvage much.

Bill


"Ray" wrote in message
news:15Jyg.693$jt.540@trnddc04...
Digging a new flower bed in the back of our 82-year-old apartment
building, we found ourselves unearthing a very old small landfill with all
sorts of interesting items.

Among them is what appears to be a toy pistol, or possibly even a real
pistol. But it is totally covered with heavy, heavy mud and rust.

I boiled this in salt, then salt and vinegar, but nothing gets it off.

Any ideas welcome.

Thanks Bill -- I'll try that.


"bill allemann" wrote in message
. com...
muriatic acid will do the trick.
try it at about 5 percent solution first. let it soak for a few hours and
see if the crusty stuff has softened. With a stronger solution, you can
actually see the iron oxide fizzing, but don't get carried away with the
solution strength. It eats away the substrate metal too, just more
slowly.
If the metal is zinc based like many old toy guns, you probably won't be
able to salvage much.

Bill


"Ray" wrote in message
news:15Jyg.693$jt.540@trnddc04...
Digging a new flower bed in the back of our 82-year-old apartment
building, we found ourselves unearthing a very old small landfill with
all sorts of interesting items.

Among them is what appears to be a toy pistol, or possibly even a real
pistol. But it is totally covered with heavy, heavy mud and rust.

I boiled this in salt, then salt and vinegar, but nothing gets it off.

Any ideas welcome.