Re: So you've found an HALES GRENADE overseas... NOW WHAT? How do you import it lega
Yeah that's not disturbing at all...
I had figured by the auction photos that it had been "out to rust" as it were, and that someone had cosmolined it to prevent any further decay. The color and shapes of the cubes sure fit that idea. Was it tacky/greasy at all? I wonder if it was wax over paint. I find it questionable that they painted it in that manner if it didn't really have any cosmoline on it. Like they were trying to make it looked as though it had been preserved in that manner. Seeing it as you have it now, I thought for sure the rounded shape of the forward-most slanted section of the grenade body would have cleaned up to be much more angular. I was thinking it was just globby wax. Maybe it still will and it's just globby paint. Otherwise, they may have really over-polished it to remove all of the rust.
There are several ways for you to recreate that dark brownish maroon coloring if you prefer to have it that color. I would totally strip off that black paint (chemically) so that you can see (and not polish away) the true character of the cubes. Then you could use wood stains and varnish to bring back that rich color but this time without all the gloppy paint blobs!
The coolest thing to me so far, as I clean the grenade teecrooz gave me, is that I'm able to see a good deal of the tooling marks on the good sections of cubes. I've only used a toothbrush and vinegar on it thus far to carefully brush away the rust dust. I took a steel bristle tooth brush to it lightly to see if it would dislodge any of what I thought was accumulated dirt/rust along the top ring's crevace (which wasn't budging with the toothbrush and vinegar), and one of the scraggly side wires brushed a 1/8"L x 1/32"W x 1/32"D piece of super thin tip-thread off of the grenade as it grazed gently past it. Try as I might, I have been unsuccessful thus far in soldering it back on. CA Glue and a bit of JB Weld are next I think. I very lightly sanded the tail end of my grenade to see if I could get it down to size to fit within my Roman's clamp and was surprised by how quickly good metal began to poke through the rust. I don't think it was nearly enough sanding to have gotten that section's diameter down enough to fit within the clamp. I need to test fit it again and determine my next plan of action in that regard. My fear right now is that if I continue using vinegar that it will expose just how far the rust runs down within some of the cubes and may literally undermine them. Some of the rust divots are becoming rust holes. I think that's what happened up at the top with that wee little bit of thread. I think I unglued it when I took the rust away. I may begin to Nu-Blu the grenade body just to seal it before deciding how to proceed with the JB Weld repairing of the upper threads. The blued look isn't really what I want in the end, but it may be part of what's best for this particular grenade preservation-wise.
One thing you can do in about 10 minutes is to remove the windvane fan (assuming it's free and will just unscrew from windvane neck) and see if you have the two steel pins in place holding the firing pin in position. If they're there, you likely have a firing pin within the windvane neck. Just spray WD-40 on the pins and down both ends of the windvane neck. Wrap it in a couple layers of papertowel making sure to cover the ends of the windvane neck, then shake it like crazy. If your firing pin is in there, and loose at all, it will knock back and forth on the inside portions of the steel pins holding it in place and it will help dislodge them. Check after every few seconds of shaking to check your progress. Mine looked dreadfully rusted, but came out without too much effort. No prying required! As they get knocked out from within, you should be able to grab hold of them with your fingernails and just pluck them out of their holes. Just be mindful to keep the windvane neck parallel to the ground when you check your progress so that your firing pin doesn't slide out and drop to the floor after you remove the steel pins! You should be able to tip it out into your palm once the steel pins are removed. If the spring around the firing pin tip is still in place, treat it like a dragonfly wing. They're sooo brittle! What was left of the springs on both of my firing pins snapped right in two as I tried to clean them gently with a tooth brush and then coax them off of the firing pins with the tip of my fingernail.
Looking forward to seeing your progress and how nicely it cleans up. Good Luck!
