weekend project

I have two horseshoes I'd like to preserve. The smaller one was found in northern Kyrgizstan 10 years ago when I was hiking from Almaty, the former capitol of Kazakstan, to Kyrgizstan. I found it when we ascended from the Tien Shan mountains into Kyrgizstan.

The larger one was found off of highway 80 in Virginia, while I was peeing on the roadside (too far from a rest stop). I did not pee on the horseshoe.

Through some contacts I learned from Gretchen Voeks, a conservator at the National Parks Service Western Archeological and Conservation Center in Tucson, AZ, who specializes in the preservation of metal and stone. Her recommendations for my horseshoe project are as follows:

- If the horseshoe has been exposed to salt water then electrolysis is the proper method;

Sorry, don't want to deal with electricity.

- If no salts are involved then a 10% solution of Coca Cola or Citric Acid should be used, then rinse thoroughly;

I'm currently doing this.

- Coat the horseshoe with tannic acid;

Umm...where the hell do I find tannic acid?

- Finish with “butchers wax” or “bowling alley wax”.

I'll improvise with Doc Martens shoe tenderizing oil.

I may later display them in a shadow box or some other intensely gay method of making rusty horseshoes look fabulous.