Smithy - Conservation
- Research and conservation of the iron sword – fixation of corrosion products and organic fragments (2015, master thesis)
- The subject of this thesis consists in the conservation of the sword, discovered at the Migration Period cemetery near Kyjov in Moravia in the grave no. 881. It was excavated by the technique „in situ“ together with the surrounding soil. On the blade surface a number of organic residues of scabbard was preserved – namely petrified leather and fragments of wood that was broadly classified as alder. The radiographic survey has revealed, that the blade was decorated by the technique of pattern – welding. This was also confirmed by metallographic survey. The pommel was made of bronze and decorated by silver inlaying. The sword was deposited in the tomb in the 6th century AD. The conservation work began with saturating the subject with cyclododecane melt with the aim to overall strengthening followed by mechanical cleaning. Two samples for metallographic and stratigraphic determinations were taken away from the blade. After the removal of cyclododecane residues the cleaned sword was soaked in distilled water. Subsequently the sword was dried at laboratory temperature and under reduced pressure. The pommel was stabilized by benzotriazole and the broken parts were glued. As the final surface treatment, coating by varnish with a top layer of conservation wax was applied. Because of a considerable fragility of the object, it was placed to a special aluminum scaffolding. The last step of this thesis was the production of Kyjov sword – replica using original techniques based on all previously gathered information.
- website of thesis (PDF in czech, mirror), so as monography in Czech Langobardský meč ISBN 978-80-87896-36-5, Brno 2016.
- The Reconservation of a Iron Dussack (2012, bachelor thesis)
- The topic of this study is reconservation of a pretentious iron dussack coming from the collections of Muzeum Vysočiny in Jihlava, Nr. Ji-Fs 47321. The text is divided into two chapters: Theory, and in the second chapter Research and Intervention. No information about finding and previous conservation of the weapon is available. The dussack was dated around 1500 AD. It has a broken blade and a decorated hilt consisting of a guard-thorn, rivets and guard-iron with a pommel, both inlaid with a yellow metal. The analysis of the dussack surface revealed its stabilization by tannate and unknown organic varnish. The metallographic examination proved, that the blade was made from steel with welded iron core and was heated up to 700-800 ºC in previous conservation process. The yellow metal, used for inlaying, was determined as brass by SEM electron microscopy. The reconservation process consisted of varnish removing by acetone and, consequently, of a corrosion stability test performed in a climatic chamber for 280 hours. After proving the stability of corrosion layers, the surface was stabilised by using a tannate solution. Finally, the dussack was covered with resin Paraloid B 44 and preservative Revax wax. Recommended storage conditions for the object are 18-20 ºC and 40 % relative humidity, max. 55 %.
- website of thesis (PDF in czech, mirror)
autor: Patrick Bárta (templ@templ.net)