PULITURA E PROTEZIONE DEI MANUFATTI METALLICI NON MUSEALI. RIFLESSIONI ED ESPERIENZE PER LA SCELTA DELLE ALTERNATIVE.

Alessandro Ervas

Fucina Ervas, alervas@tin.it

ABSTRACT

Regarding cleaning and protection from corrosion of metal hand-made objects not pertaining to museums, aesthetic factors and restoration principles come to play and impose respect of the work and reversibility of the intervention. However, in many instances, methods which are widely and successfully used in the industrial sector and in crafts are chosen only because they are effective on new works, without addressing problems related to less recent hand-made objects. In light of restoration and logical rules, not assessing the consequences deriving from the chosen methods can lead to irreversible damages to the work and the loss of surfaces and finishings. The use of non-aggressive techniques is possible on a large scale and is possible not only on small-sized hand-made objects: chelating polymers and surfactants in aqueous solution, used aggregated or as a pack are very good and proven cleaning methods, while, among industrial protective products, those that are not reversible or even damage-causing are to be avoided, such as galvanizing, which is used as a method against corrosion too often and wrongly. The objective of this text is to describe the results of multiple observations and experiences about cleaning and protection interventions, that I carried out on several hand-made objects different in type and age.

Key-words: cleaning - protection - chelating polymers - aqueous solution - galvanizing.