Good day everyone. We had a house fire on Dec 22 that destroyed most of our house and my family’s possessions. We are trying to salvage whatever we can, and I found a sculpture that I purchased in Fredricksberg. I was told the smoke was very caustic and will begin to erode metals immediately (which I believe to be true, as the sculpture already appears to be pitting.) I believe it is made of copper, possibly bronze.
Does anyone know how to clean it?
Corrosive?
Warm clean water is the natural enemy of most things corrosive. Were I in your shoes I would use a toothbrush / rag to gently scrub a hidden area with warm fresh water. If that appears to work I’d rinse that thing really really well. Be sure to include rubber gloves and eye protection in the effort.
According to Wikipedia some rather nasty acids are the problem. If that’s true for you then mild bar soap will be beneficial.
Thank you Brian, I am on it at first light!
In addition - I vaguely remember that one of the members had a (son?) who did a science project on how to clean copper. It seems that a paste of lemon juice and salt was particularly effective.
Neverdull and/or Brilliantize are excellent products for cleaning and polishing soft metals.
Funny thing: drinking water is pretty corrosive. It all just depends on your substrate. There is an entire industry dedicated to protecting steel tanks and pipes from water corrosion.
@Willindigo I just wanted to let you know my family had a devastating house fire when I was in middle school and it was just a horrible. I feel for you. Do you need anything?
Yeah – I went on a field trip to a company that produced filters for the steam industry. Absolutely pure H2O is an aggressive solvent. We don’t realize that because we usually are only around water that’s already saturated. I figure that they add minerals to distilled water to keep it from etching the plastic jugs…
Either salt and lemon juice or salt and vinegar is used to remove tarnish from copper
Wash it well after or it will patina in blue or green
I would start with warm soapy water that then try the salt and acid in a small area also toothpaste is a
mild abrasive I have used it to polish stretches ou of amber
Thank you for the offer, but our community actually got together and gave us plenty as far as clothes and money. Phenomenal really.
Edit: removed GoFundMe - our cup runneth over!
It has been pretty awful for the kids, they are much more upset than it seems they should be. We lost our cat and snake and they still cry daily for them and for the loss of “home”. I’m hoping time will heal those wounds. Perhaps you can give me some pointers on things that may have helped you so that I may try them with my kids?
Mind if I ask how old your kiddos are?
I reached out to our school psych (high school) and my sons school (elementary) counselor for some real resources to share with you about how to talk to your kids about sudden loss. I’m sure they will have an insight that is spot on for you (if you haven’t already I would encourage you to reach out to your kids school support staff and ask for counseling sessions, clergy if you have it, anyone and everyone who has contact with your kids just to inform them).
We had only material loss - although my brother was hurt trying to fight the fire (we were home alone - not as bad as it sounds) so my story is a bit different.
I would just listen as much as you can. The loss of a pet is really rough and even worse when it’s with something like this. My guess is they are projecting all the grief of loss of material items, the shock of the trauma behind the death of a beloved pet, and just the reality that normal life isn’t going to be normal for awhile into the grief of the pet. All that fear and loss and everything needs to just come out however the kid needs to express it - sometimes it’s anger, sometimes it’s getting closed off, sometimes the whole family needs to go outside and scream at the moon - and your job is to assure them that they are safe - emotionally and physically (you know this I’m sure of it). Get them back into a normal pattern as fast as possible. Ask for help so you can practice some self care along the way as I’m sure it’s going to be toughest on you. Be thankful together and reciprocate that goodness back to the community when you can how you can- together as a family. Get busy in your mind building back hope and dreams for the future while working on the reality and work of today - for me it was talking about this stupid hammock I wanted instead of a bed. It was so cool you guys, so cool.
I don’t think anything I said was very helpful. I apologize for not having more stuff to help you. I’m sure other parents will tell you different strategies that are probably better. I’ll send you pms when they get back to me.
My brother and I were sent to live in California while the house was being rebuilt. It was very near a total loss. Some beauty came out of the fire but it took awhile to figure out what it was.
Please reach out for help here as well. I will do what I can as I can to help and I suspect others feel the same.
Kids are 8, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 19.
I wish I could heart your post more than once. There is wisdom in your words, thank you so much for sharing. Those are some things I was not even thinking about as I am dealing with insurance, food, housing, work, etc…
I’ll post more later, but truly - thank you!
