How do you take care of your EK1?

[TexasCollector]

Just curious as the best way to preserve and care for these Crosses?

Any suggestions?

Should you leave your cross in its current condition or restore/clean it up?

Thanks!

TC

[Biro]

To Clean or Not to Clean

once again to clean or not to clean!

clean a iron cross

Silver Honour Goblet, to clean or not to clean

Assmann PAB, to clean or not?

Clean or not to clean?


etc........

Marshall

[Jim Baker]

Tex,

I hope I'm not going to confuse you here. Ordinarily, I would not clean an EK, but when we talked about the 1 marked EK you are looking to buy, I said I would clean that one because of it's current condition. Then again, if not for the good deal you were offered, I would not have bought it to begin with. That particular cross is pretty rough. IMO.....

[TexasCollector]

Tex,

I hope I'm not going to confuse you here. Ordinarily, I would not clean an EK, but when we talked about the 1 marked EK you are looking to buy, I said I would clean that one because of it's current condition. Then again, if not for the good deal you were offered, I would not have bought it to begin with. That particular cross is pretty rough. IMO.....

Jim,

is there a way to lessen the rust? It actually looks better then the photo.

Any EK experts know how to preserve a rusty EK?

[irrgang]

New member here...

Been surfing the site for some time to try to learn about the hobby and this is one quiestion I have. I've understood that I shouldn't clean any medals, but how to take care of, preserve and make sure small parts of rust doesn't eat up the rest of the medal?

[Peter Wiking]

New member here...

Been surfing the site for some time to try to learn about the hobby and this is one quiestion I have. I've understood that I shouldn't clean any medals, but how to take care of, preserve and make sure small parts of rust doesn't eat up the rest of the medal?

Keep it dry. No open windows. No sticky fingers. Use silica gel in the room.

Cheers.
Peter Wiking

[bratwurstdimsum]

How about something like this? It has all the things we've mentioned so far, wax, natural oils ...

http://www.knockout-rust.com.au/

[meriksson]

Im whit Peter.
Just keep them dry.
Mikael

[Henri S]

Humidity is a big problem here in Malta and most of our buildings are made of mediterranean limestone, which does not help. I do have dehumidifiers, but still you are looking at a humidity rate of 65 - 70%. Only way to protect the awards is to have a sealed room with a controlled atmosphere, which is rather expensive and difficult to justify with the wife !!!

I protect other items like firearms, swords and knives by using a soft cloth sprayed with gun oil. I have never used it on the awards, but maybe a soft wipe just enough to protect from atmospheric contamination. What do you guys think about this ?

[meriksson]

I dont trust gun oil, as some can be realy agressive.
Mikael

[Henri S]

Agressive as to the paint job?

I dont trust gun oil, as some can be realy agressive.
Mikael

[meriksson]

Yeep and the silver frames and maybe the frosting. I wont use it! What Peter say is the best. Keep them in a dry place and maybe use that Silca gel in the place were you store them.

Agressive as to the paint job?

[meriksson]

Some about wy not Gun oil!
Some types are made to lose gun powder left overs. I have some that will ruin a EK. And most types are made to prevserve a blueing off a gun and prevent that from rust not paint. To use any gun oil or any else oil on a EK is like going out on a mine feild.
Mikael

[Brian S]

I think a spot of 3 in 1 Oil applied directly to rust with a Q-tip is the best way to ensure the rust won't spread.

[Peter B]

I question I would like to pose is has anyone used a product on badges and medals called Renwax.

It is a product that was developed and designed for placing a protective coating over a wide range of museum artifacts ranging from paper to metal.

It is popular with a lot of dagger collectors and it appears it also may be suitable for medals & badges..although not to clean them rather placing a protective coating on them.