Oceanfront hunt today (and yesterday) Bronze ships spike still in the wood!

[DocBeav]

Oceanfront hunt today (and yesterday) Bronze ships spike still in the wood!**Update**

**Update** "Preservation" of the wood and spike is complete, go to second page to see final photos.....

After a pretty good day at the oceanfront yesterday with the CTX (pulled a nice big silver ring and earring I'll show at the end) I was hoping for a repeat today. The first place I hit was totally bleak but it had been pretty good the day before. It kind of lowered my expectations for the next place I went to (where I found the ring) but it turned out to be a really good hunt. Most of the tgts were low and mid slope, there was NOTHING in the water even though there were all these great looking lows..just too much new sand in them. I was meandering back and forth in the damp and I spotted a small piece a drift wood a ways up. I'm always on the lookout for cool shells, sea glass and what not while I'm out there. As I got closer I could see something yellow in the wood and I said "now way....that cannot be what I think it is but it was! I was so surprised to see how great of a condition it was in and that you could see it protruding from both ends. Not sure how "unique" something like this is but for me its one off the bucket list! I have been envious of the one that Max has on his mantlepiece and now I have one for mine!.....right after I get a mantlepiece! Also found a small 1 gram silver earring and some other do-dads. One is a brass tube that looks like a mouthpiece maybe? Bosun's pipe or a tobacco pipe? The scratches on it look like they could be teeth marks. Any thoughts from anyone here about that item or any of the others? Max is sending me some info on how to preserve the wood, af any of you have thoughts on it feel free to weigh in. I have it soaking in some salt water now until I learn more. Here's the picts...


Here are the pictures from yesterday's hunt and the nice 10 Gram silver ring and earring from the same area. Wife already called "dibs" on the ring!

 

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[DocBeav]

So hope it stays intact and looking that great for you!

I recently found a 1700's wine bottle on the seabed, with cork inside - it was as fat as my thumb. Now its dried out its as skinny as my pinky! and don't look as nice in the bottle!

great find btw!

Thanks man! Still doesn't even come CLOSE to the stuff YOU have been finding! When will we get the whole story and all the finds?

 

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[Higgy]

As a knifemaker, I've had a bit of experience with preserving wood for handle materials.

My best advice is to put that wood in distilled water in a jar and get a brake bleeder attached to the lid somehow and pull a vacuum on it. This will pull out the salt and get fresh water inside it. Then allow to dry naturally outside but under an eve or somewhere the breezes can get to it but will not get wet.

Then, I would polish up the metal to the original luster that you saw when you pulled it from the sand. By now it should be completely dry to allow a soak in any decent wood hardener like Minwax wood hardener, again pulling a vacuum with your cheapo brake bleeder.

A great find, DB! Certainly one I woudl be proud to display on the mantle I have that is... scheduled for... removal.

 

[Limitool]

Took the wood out of the fresh water rinse and have it drying now. It seems to have lost some of the brightness to the metal of the spike, not as yellow as when I first found it. Maybe not munz metal?
Plan on letting it dry all the way and getting some varnish to dip it like ARRC said. How many minutes should I leave it in the varnish until I pull it out and hang to dry? How long will it take to dry? More than one coat/dip needed? Also wondering if I should take a q-tip with some Brasso on it and shine the spike up some first before I varnish it. Thoughts?

View attachment 1064571View attachment 1064572

I can't advise you on what to do with the spike but I can on the varnish. Whatever you decide to do with the spike obviously it has to be done before the varnish bath. When you get ready to dip your wood and spike leave in for a good minute. But make sure the wood is completely dry first. Let the wood soak up all the varnish it can (like a sponge). Then just hang with alligator clip and a string and let drip. As far as drying time... depends what kind of varnish you utilized, weather and how much it soaked up. Maybe use a high gloss poly instead of varnish...? Whichever you use whenever it's NOT sticky anymore you can then handle without leaving fingerprints and palm prints. Repost when done... it should look really cool Doc.

EDIT: If you used a quick drying poly (Minwax Quick Drying) about 4-5 hrs. would do it.

 

[ARC]

I would polish spike like you intended... if it were another type of metal I would say no... but it has such character when it "shines"... the varnish I spoke of the Bear Super Spar... get the one with the SPF additive... it will add a "honey" hue to it and also protect from sunlight damage.
I would dip once... submerge... count to at least 20 seconds... have can below hanger or string so when you hang it will drip back into can... ALSO do not let the drip come from spike... it will leave a "nipple" of varnish.
Let dry overnight.... then maybe hour or two in sun... and done.

 

[DocBeav]

Started on the restoration/preservation of the spike. Used some Brasso with qtips and small cotton rag and took some of the crud off of it that had developed after it was soaked in fresh water and dried. It ha sjust come out of it's second "dip" in the spar urethane (they didn't have a huge selection but this one here should work) and will wait and see how it comes out or if it needs a third coat.


I'll post more of the finished product when done.

 

[DocBeav]

Only had to do two "dips" in the urethane, let it sit for about a minute or so each time and it came out pretty good! Should be a nice display piece now! (the flash on the camera mad it look a bit more shiny than it really is)

 

[Old Dude]

Great find! The little oddities are actually more interesting than coins because of the uniqueness.

 

[park pirate]

Awesome find...