Bone Handle Fork

This archaeological item was excavated by the Ontario Heritage Trust from the McDonnell house just outside Ottawa, near the Ottawa River in a township of East Hawksbury. The major issues with this item is the expanding iron which is affecting the bone handle, causing cracking throughout. As seen from the x-ray before image there small amount of corrosion that needs to be address on the prongs of the fork. The treatment to address these problems is as follows:

• Mechanical surface cleaning (during treatment photos were taken after this process which can be seen in the images below)
• Solvent surface cleaning using ethanol
• Consolidation of the bone components using 1% Klucel G in isopropanol
• Coating of the metal components using ~30% Paraloid B48N in acetone (after treatment photos show the effects of these coatings applied)

The coating of the metal components was necessary to reduce the corrosion process from occurring as fast as it was and to stabilize the elements as it has been taken from underground and exposed to the environment.