Cleaning a hotchkiss nose

[geodiggr]

Hi all,

I have nice hotchkiss nose that I have been running electrolysis on. Most of the shell is clean now, however I have some recalcitrant rust in the flame grooves, the groove where the sabot connected, and the in the fuse hole. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions on how to best remove this remaining rust without making the rest of the shell too "clean".

Any and help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Rick

[axit1]

Rick, use a wire brush on a drill motor, that works well for me.
axit1

[PCGeorge]

Rick, over the past 35 or so years I've done the "finishing" cleaning-work on shells after they come out of the Electrolysis tank. For the stubborn rust-concretion in the places you mentioned on your Hotchkiss shell, here's what I've found to give me the best result.

For the flamegrooves, I use the claw-tip of an old "straight-claw" (not deeply-curved claw) hammer which has seen so much use that the claw-tips have gotten blunted/rounded-down. (Do not use a "new" hammer whose claw edges are still sharp-cornered.) I tap on the rust-concretion in the flamegrooves with the blunted/rounded-down clawtip, VERY gently, until the rust-concretion breaks loose. I'm very careful not to use too much force. I'd rather have to tap a spot of concretion 15 times gently than lose patience and bash it - making a dent in the shell's iron body.

For cleaning rust-concretion out of the groove which held the sabot, I use a hammer and a small-ish screwdriver whose blade tip is worn/rounded-down (like my old hammer's claw-tip). Again, it is better to tap gently and repeatedly on the rust-concretion instead of bashing to get a quicker result.

As always, it's best to practice using a newly-learned cleaning technique on an less-important item first, such as a shell-fragment, than to do your practice-work on a high-value item. ;-)

Regards,
Pete [P.C. George]