What's new
British Ordnance Collectors Network

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

1944 17 Pounder Case - Extreme Make Over

peregrinvs

Well-Known Member
A friend of mine picked up this 17pr case for me recently. The price was good, but that was because it had been previously turned into a lamp or something and slathered in some sort of hard as nails grey-black paint...:tinysmile_cry_t4:

17 Pounder case - RLB 1944 - pre-clean (1).JPG17 Pounder case - RLB 1944 - pre-clean (2).JPG17 Pounder case - RLB 1944 - pre-clean (3).JPG

After two days on and off of scraping, blow-torching, citric acid dipping, wire-wool scrubbing, etc. I have finally got it back to a reasonable display piece. Gawd knows what the paint was - I made the mistake of breathing in some of the dust and I think Novichok would have been preferable...:tinysmile_cry_t2: Underneath the paint, the metal had gone a strange orange-brown colour, so I had to polish that off as well.

17 Pounder case - RLB 1944 - post-clean (1).JPG17 Pounder case - RLB 1944 - post-clean (2).jpg

I know it's generally best not to bling up cartridge cases, but I think there are occasions when it is the lesser of two evils. Now on to getting a natural patina on it.
 
Great work. Its so nice to see something that has been wrecked having a second chance.
Thanks for the before and after pics.
Dave.
 
Thanks. It required at least 3 extra large pots of elbow grease, but I got there in the end.

In case anyone has a similar problem, here’s how I did it...

An initial coat of Nitromoors on the paint did absolutely zip. I therefore went over it with a blowtorch and then gradually scraped the paint off with a blunt knife and some medium wire wool. As mentioned, the metal underneath the paint had gone a strange orange-ish colour, so I gave it a 30 minute soak in dilute citric acid and then scrubbed it again with medium wire wool. This finally got it back to bare brass and after that it was a matter of polishing: firstly with fine wire wool and finally with a cloth and some Autosol polish.

I next want it to patinate, so I’m thinking of wiping it over with white spirit to remove the polish residue and then may leave it outside for a bit.

PS. The neck was dented, so I heated it with a blow torch and then used the pointed end of the semi-restored AP-T shot shown as a mandrel to widen it.
 
Top