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British No85 fuze dated 1915

E

Edwardc

Well-Known Member
Just after a bit of advice, I picked this fired but good condition no85 cheap, and im debating what to do with it.

I was thinking of taking it apart and sectioning each bit individually but its proving a nightmare to get apart, the grub screws are out and most of the somme mud cleaned off but i cant get it unscrewed for the life of me. I have soaked it for about 3 days in penetrating fluid, completely submerged. has anyone go any tips? Heat or diesel i have found on here, is diesel really better than penetrating fluid? heat i want to use as a last resort. if i have to go down that route then i will leave as is and polish it.

which brings me nicely onto my next question, its got that lovely (not) orange patina all over it, the mud is off and bright brass is showing through in a few places, brasso seems to do bugger all.

vinegar and salt have been mentioned to me and i have used this to good effect on an old brass stove (that only had 20years of surface corrosion though - not 90+ years in the ground!!) but im doubtful about using it in this case.

what about super fine grade wet and dry? or a polishing compound on a polishing wheel?

ideally a complete brass shine would be great but i think thats a bit unrealistic!!

i ask because i have seen a few peoples collections with ground dug fuzes that are almost back to a mirror polish from really grotty, i just wondered if anyone had any suggestions or secret reciepes!

Cheer
Ed

p.s also with regards sectioning the fuze, i wanted to section it in components to keep some whole, with some sectioned, if i cant get it apart what do people reckon to just taking a 90degree chunk out of it through all the components then polishing the cut surfaces?
 
Any photos ed? Perhaps if we can see the condition etc it would make it a little easier to offer the best advice.

Darren
 
A soak in Cillit Bang & scrub with a stainless steel brush works for me.
Depends on whether you just want it clean or shiny!!?? (I prefer just clean).
Unfortunately I would be surprise & impressed if you managed to get it to come apart. The dynamics of how they work & the forces that go through them in the course of doing as stated on the tin pretty much fuses (no pun intended) the whole thing together, then add the impact with Mother Earth & 60+ years in mud & water.
 
ok thanks guys, thats what i thought, will give it a clean up then. will post some pics in the morning!
 
Hi Ed, here is a pic of mine it will give you some idea what it will look like but it will be a bugger to get apart there is a small grub screw in the top you would have to drill that out first hope this helps.
Andy
 

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cheers, thats helpful, i dont think mine is going to budge easily though. i think im going to literally forget about it for a few weeks, it can just swim in penetrating fluid for a bit!!
 
here are some pictures as promised. i dont want to take the polishing to far as i dont want to obliterate the engravings, but i will keep having a go with autosol and brasso periodically, dont think its bad for ground dug, its just pink lol

fuzes4.jpg


fuzes1.jpg
 
HI,

It's "pink" because the zinc has been leeched out of the brass composition - this is typically seen on a majority of Japanese WW2 ordnance recovered from the islands. You won't be able to "polish" back to the original brass appearance! You could always spray it with a brass color enamel paint..............

{Even using acid to remove the top oxidation layer won't restore the original "brass" appearance!}

I'll post some pics later.

If you still want to attempt to dismantle it: Try soaking in diesel for a couple of weeks; tap with hard rubber mallet and apply some heat - you'll need to get the cap off first.

If you search BOCN, there was a recent thread on a similar request as yours and I posted pics of a No 94 fuse I dismantled with the above method.

Cheers
Drew
 
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ok the fuze has been soaking continually, i tried another dismantle but no joy but it is loosening a bit as oil can now be seen flowing out from between some of the rings. I willtry heat etc eventually but its abck in for another months soak.

Just quickly how deep do i need to drill out the grub screw on the top section?

as for heating, shall i heat it cherry red then quench it in cold water, or heat it cherry red, whack it with a mallet and then quench it or what do i do as regards for the heat?

Cheers

Ed
 
Edwardc said:
Just quickly how deep do i need to drill out the grub screw on the top section?

as for heating, shall i heat it cherry red then quench it in cold water, or heat it cherry red, whack it with a mallet and then quench it or what do i do as regards for the heat?

Cheers

Ed
Click to expand...

Hi Ed,

I would start with a smaller size (smaller than the screw's diameter) and work my way up - the goal is to remove the screw and not to "drill-out" (enlarge) the thread hole.

Re heating: the idea is to apply heat to the bit that you want to remove only, not all over as the bits will "expand" at the same rate! The challenge here is that it is all brass, whereas a item comprising of brass /steel would be a lot easier (well in theory anyhow) as the metals expand at different rates. Focus on getting one bit of at a time.

ie if you carefully apply heat to the time ring, it should "expand" faster than the body core, yes a couple of gentle taps with a mallet should crack any persistence corrosion.


Have fun!

Cheers
Drew
 
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