Need help with aging this beautiful peice

[Holly_squirrel]

I wanted to find something decorative.... Finally I did.... In a big way. This won't thrill men like a civil war buckle would ... Lol ... But I'm in love with it. Backstory... My grandparents passed and I was detecting at their old property. Part of this was sticking out of the creek bed... There was like a landslide of tbe bank ... And there this was. My mom said as a kid she remembers them digging at tbe spike of this thing.



Then it was covered up... I guess it's been working its way out in recent years. There is a property in view of this thing, that was built in late 1800s and another even older than that. This didnt wash down from them, because it wouldn't had to go upstream... But maybe it was dumped. I've spent hours on it already .. It was like a huge barnacle... But the iron is so incredibly durable and non brittle... So given all that info can anyone give me an educated guess at the age?



I made Buddy sit in for size reference... Lol.. Not happy about being told to sit and stay

 

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[QUICKSILVER (appletree)]

my guess is window grill/bars middle to late 1800's for a cellar window

 

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[nhbenz]

May well have been a window guard, similar to this; Antique 19th Century Window Guard, Wrought Iron NWNG10 For Sale | Antiques.com | Classifieds
It appears that one of the uprights is a bit taller, with a rounded? portion that would work as part of a hinge, which is useful in this application, and not so much if it was used as part of a fence.

 

[nhbenz]

Oh dang, I didn't see Quicksilvers suggestion before posting above... I guess we're on page 2 now, huh?
anyway, I agree with Quicksilver.

 

[Breezie]

My thinking to Coily.. TheCannonBall guy's thought seems like a reasonable theory . Drives me nuts cause I know somebody somewhere knows... Somebody familiar with Victorian architecture . Any suggestions for where to find said person? Lol

The Victorian era is my area of concentration (so to speak.) I don't know how big Buddy is or how close he was to the railing in the pic to judge the 'height', but whether it is 3, 4, 5 or even 6 feet tall, it's still a Victorian cast iron railing/fence. It could have been used in a garden, cemetery, as a property border, flower border, window guard, or the likes. It could have even been re-used in it's life as as rose trellis, but no matter how it was used, it's still a Victorian cast iron railing.

As far as age is concerned, the Victorian Period was during the reign of Queen Victorian, which was from 1837 to 1901. Judging by the shape and ornate pattern of your railing, I would date it from 1860's to 1875, which is prior to the East Lake influence during the Victorian era.

Again, really neat find Breezie

 

[BryanM362]

Did you try googling images of Victorian iron fence? I looked for a minute and found these, they aren't exact, but similar.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

I'd like to see pic of this hole in th bank where it came from..... We have iron like that all over New Orleans Your peice definitely reminds me of one that would be on top of a brick courtyard wall or along a window sill.

Also to get a nice finish on it, clean all the rust you can with a wire brush, then heat it up over a fire and season it with lard or vegetable oil like you would a cast iron skillet. It'll come out looking much nicer than if you just paint it in my opinion anyway.

 

[dieselram94]

The suggestion about the widow walk is very good. However seeing as your in PA. I doubt that is what it's from. I would put money on it being grave related. Although I do know of a clay tennis ball court in town here that has a gate very similar to yours. Holly, you have found a perfect candidate for electrolysis here.

 

[Holly_squirrel]

My attempts at electrolysis have been really uneventful... I don't know why... Maybe it's cause I just used baking soda...

 

[dieselram94]

Baking soda works but washing soda is better. What amps are you running your charger on?

 

[Holly_squirrel]

Baking soda works but washing soda is better. What amps are you running your charger on?

The highest ones... I forget the number..

 

[dieselram94]

Well it should have worked for you. The black(negative) terminal goes to the piece to be cleaned and the (red) positive terminal goes to the scrap steel anode (sacrificial). Add water and baking soda, wahing soda ect. and leave charger going for awhile. It is not instant results it takes a long time to work. But I promise you it does work and super good to. What results were you expecting? and you must make sure you have a working charger and good connections...

 

[Holly_squirrel]

Well it should have worked for you. The black(negative) terminal goes to the piece to be cleaned and the (red) positive terminal goes to the scrap steel anode (sacrificial). Add water and baking soda, wahing soda ect. and leave charger going for awhile. It is not instant results it takes a long time to work. But I promise you it does work and super good to. What results were you expecting? and you must make sure you have a working charger and good connections...

I know it works , used it on the escape the other day. And yeah I got the positive n neg on right pieces. So here is the piece I put in for 10 hours....


Before





After 10 hours... Lol... Wtf.. I swear I have the chargers right. The color in first pic is off.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

For "large" iron objects, like that one, or a cannonball, I let the Electrolysis do its thing for fully 24 hours (and sometimes 36 hours, at low amperage like 1 or 2 amps). I suspect 10 hours isn't enough to completely clean on object as big as that one.

For smaller objects, like a guntool, I go with 12 to 18 hours.

Also, I surround the relic with a large cylinder of iron or steel, such as a large-diameter coffeecan, using the sheetmetal cylinder as the anode. Because it surrounds the relic, I get better results than using something that doesn't surround it, like a steel bar.

 

[dieselram94]

10 hrs is not very long, how was the other electrode (sacrifical) A lot of rust floated over to it? the water should have been very rusty looking and lots of liquified rust should have floated over to the electrode with the red (positive) connection.

 

[dieselram94]

For "large" iron objects, like that one, or a cannonball, I let the Electrolysis do its thing for fully 24 hours (and sometimes 36 hours, at low amperage like 1 or 2 amps). I suspect 10 hours isn't enough to completely clean on object as big as that one.

For smaller objects, like a guntool, I go with 12 to 18 hours.

Also, I surround the relic with a large cylinder of iron or steel, such as a large-diameter coffeecan, using the sheetmetal cylinder as the anode. Because it surrounds the relic, I get better results than using something that doesn't surround it, like a steel bar.

For sure electrolysis works better with line of sight. I think Holly may also not be getting a good connection especially on the item to be cleaned.

 

[CoilyGirl]

Diesel ram I think you may be right.we tried electrolysis on heavily rusted cannonball parts and the second we put it in the solution it started bubbling and we could see rust coming off.

 

[dieselram94]

I am always fascinated with electrolysis and I have cleaned many many parts and items this way. Currently I am cleaning a old Buffalo Forge riveters forge And when I am done the parts look like new. You are right CoilyGirl the bubbles should start right away. Also when removing or placing your battery clamps with charger turned on you should see visible sparks.

 

[Holly_squirrel]

Something is wrong..The very first time I did it on a relic.. I did see foam n bubbles. Ever since that time.. No bubbles.. Murky and orangey And scummy rust on the scrap metal ... But no foam no bubbles.. Just Alil movement. I think that first time I left it on start engine and it shut itself off and got hot and smelled like burnt plastic, like I said, it still started the car however. Also that first time I did have the ends in tbe water ... So the action was intensified.

 

[Holly_squirrel]

I was gonna clean it better tben post pics and give the measurements and show the ends close up... It's in the bath now..

 

[dieselram94]

Wrong . The very first time I did it on a relic.. I did see foam n bubbles. Ever since that time.. No bubbles.. Murky and orangey And scummy rust on the scrap metal ... But no foam no bubbles.. Just Alil movement. I think that first time I left it on start engine and it shut itself off and got hot and smelled like burnt plastic, like I said, it still started the car however. Also that first time I did have the ends in tbe water ... So the action was intensified.

Holly, it sounds like you needed to give it more time. The murkey orangey water was a great sign it was working. Patience is key here. I leave mine on 50 amp engine start and it never gets hot and never smells like burning plastic. Are you sure the parts did not come together under water?