A paper given as part of the Aluminium Conference in Washington DC in 2014 (pasted as text without diagrams as a draft)

Draft only-16-6-16

Preventive conservation and maintenance of aluminium artefacts and collections

David Hallam

Metallic Heritage Consultant

Oatlands, Tasmania

zzhalla@gmail.com

Abstract

Aluminium alloys have vastly different metallographic structures and material properties depending on composition and heat treatment regimens therefore they require specific preventive conservation approaches. One approach will not cover all alloys.

Reviews of current museum approaches to preventive conservation of aluminium alloys both published and unpublished are discussed along with industrial and military approaches. Methods considered include desert storage, dehumidification, the use of Volatile Corrosion Inhibitors (VCI) and Water Displacing Corrosion Preventatives (WDCP's).

Deterioration of objects in storage and on display are discussed with recommendations for best practice storage, environmental standards based on some highly successful and examples of catastrophic examples. Occupational health and safety hazards in relation to aluminium are addressed.

Introduction

In terms of volume of production, aluminium is the world's leading nonferrous metal. Because of its lightness and unique physical and chemical properties, its suitability for the construction of aircraft was recognised early last century. As a construction material it was essential to have stable and resistant surface finishes. Surface finishing techniques developed rapidly in both Europe and the US. So much so that it is now thought of as an extremely stable material but the passivating oxide film can breakdown in a wide variety of circumstances leading to rapid deterioration.

The physical, chemical, electrochemical and mechanical properties of aluminium and its alloys all vary in accordance with composition, heat treatments and environmental exposure factors. With more than 100 variations in the composition and heat treatments there are a large number of preventive conservation options that need to be exercised.

Conservation Literature

An electronic search on the preventive conservation of aluminium in a museological context is dominated by the making of preventive conservation supports for historic works (Mazzolani,2009). The literature on the preventive conservation of Aluminium heritage objects is scant and covers mainly sculpture, built heritage and Large Technological objects (LTO'S).

Technological Objects

Technology preservation -- has always followed engineers and technical practice. It is only really recently - in the last two to three decades that conservation practice has made an indent in the treatments and approaches of technological object conservation.

Back in the 1970's the preservation of aircraft stored out of doors was a concern of National Aeronautical and Space Museum (NASM) and curator Bob Mikesh (Robert C. Mikesh ,1971)(R. C. Mikesh, 1989)( R. Mikesh, 1997). By the 1980's the conservation of technology was well established as a growing theme in materials conservation methodologies were not well understood. MacLeod, Degrigny and Bailey (MacLeod 1983) (Degrigny 1993), (Bailey, 2004) all worked on the problems of aircraft recovered from the sea. Hallam, Adams (Adams and Hallam, 1993) and Ashton (Ashton and Hallam 1990) were looking at the original surfaces and approaches to technological conservation.  Work on preventive approaches for aircraft continues today with the work of Schwarz (Schwarz and Fix, 2011) and Macleod (MacLeod, 2006). Michael Brunott, Ainslie Greiner, David Hallam, David Thurrowgood, worked on the Conservation Maintenance Programs for Functional Objects and the problems of corrosion in breaking system (Hedditch et al., 2011). Otieno-Alego, Hallam and Creagh did a lot of work on proving waxy and commercial coatings were useful for the conservation of technology items (Otieno-Alego et al., 1998) (Otieno-Alego et al., 1998) (Otieno-Alego et al., 1997).

Structure and finishes of Aluminium

With the development of aluminium and its alloys as a construction material, the need arose for stable and resistant surface finishes and techniques developed rapidly in both Europe and the US. These finishes can offer important historical and technical information. As intrinsic parts of the object, every effort should be made to devise conservation strategies to retain them. It is only through an understanding of the construction of an object and its deterioration that appropriate treatments can be developed. Aircraft are made up of a body that will be predominately one form of aluminium alloy. (e.g. in an US WW2 aircraft 2024 T3 alloy skin and 7075 alloy parts, in a Japanese aircraft of the same period it will be a SD and ESD alloy, ditto French or Australian). . For US WW2 aircraft they a thin laminate of pure aluminium called Alcad.

In the case of a WW2 binocular from the Japanese it will be copper plate then a "crinkle coat" nitrocellulose black paint. On a British seaplane it would be a synthetically grown aluminium oxide (anodising in chromic acid) and a good dose of zinc chromate paint. A German plane of the same period would have clad sheeting, anodised aluminium and also an alkaline chromate conversion coating called the MBV coating. Zinc chromate paint will also be present in a nitrocellulose or acrylic base.In all case paints and primers also will also cover the surface.

Modern examples are the MacBook computer surface  made by chemical etching and abrasive blasting - to give a mat finish - then bright anodising - a technique it shares with the bright-work on a 1970 Volvo wagon.

Insert figure 1

Figure 1 Bright anodized aluminium a 1970 Volvo Wagon

These surfaces are complex and need to be understood before any preventive treatments are even thought about.

Surfaces are what makes up your object special and the nature of these oxide coatings has been previously reported (Adams and Hallam, 1993)

Degradation of Aluminium

Aluminium was used for the dome at the San Gioacchino Church in Rome in 1897 The alloy 98.3% Al with Fe and Si has proved reliable with minimal corrosion over the last 100 years was the parent of the 1000 series alloys using 99.5% pure aluminium.But when aluminium fails it can be quite spectacular. I remember showing a visitor a Zero aircraft with ESD (extra Special Duralumin) spar caps. The visitor commented that it was amazing that they were still using wood in the structure having totally mistaken the corroded metal. The ESD had severe inter granular corrosion and looked just like bleached degraded wood. United States WW2 aircraft deteriorate in the same way as the figure (2) illustrates.

Figure 2

Lightning main spar showing spar cap delamination where it was immersed in a swamp

Aluminium alloys have failure mechanisms that include pitting, galvanic, filiform corrosion while for the 2000-7000 age-hardenable alloys exfoliation and stress corrosion are major factors. (Vargel, 2004);

Aluminium alloys have corrosion rates that are minimal till the RH% gets to be over 60% (Dean and Rhea E. C. 1982). Pollutants such as SO2, NH3, Cl increase the corrosion rate and promote pitting and crevice corrosion while reducing the threshold at which corrosion rates start to increase. When exposed to very high SO2 concentrations and relative humidity above 50%, most aluminium alloys will corrode rapidly, forming a hydrated aluminium sulphate.Dust deposits attract moisture and pollutants resulting in increased corrosion rates. In some cases this may lead to pitting of upper surfaces of objects in unprotected storage.

Insert figure 3

Internal Paint failure in a Dornier Seaplane

Water staining is also possible due to the thermal conductivity of aluminium promoting condensation on objects. Water build up in void spaces is also due to condensation with resulting high corrosion rates.

Pourbaix

In aqueous solutions the stability domain of the oxide coatings that passivate aluminium surfaces with 8.44 (Pourbaix, 1966) (Deltombe and Pourbaix, 1958) for the metal

Insert figure 4

Inter-granular corrosion caused by chloride, high RH and the alloys type and heat treatment.

Preservation Approaches

Traditional Approaches

Mechanics and engineers, architects and artists, corrosion scientists and craftspeople that use aluminium will all approach it's preservation from differing perspectives. Their approaches will not be the same as a heritage preservation specialist or conservator. Having seen some of the failures in industry they will tend to take a non-preventative approach. Their "Corrosion is cancer" or the pragmatic "just blast clean it" approach will not win unified support with conservators. Neither will the "cotton bud" approach of conservators win them over.

A logical decision making approach is needed to the objects preservation needs.

Significance

A significance assessment, a document outlining what is important about the object, to whom, and why, in accordance with the methodology outlined in Significance 2 (Russell and Winkworth, 2010) is the key element of a preservation strategy. Such statements outline what about the object is significant and needs to be preserved and provide a rational basis for retention of objects in a collection in a vast array of conditions. It is a mechanism for reconciliation of materials..

Insert figure 5

Figure 5 A Wankel engined generator after conservation treatment and inhibition note the surface tells the story of the use in the red sands of the Australian outback not the technological mastery of the Wankel engine

.

Any minimal gain in stability and preservation of original materials would be at the expense of the objects significance as a focal point of a community and continuing cultural tradition ( Wain, 2012). Aluminium objects are no different.

Insert figure 6

Figure 6 close up of the adhered red dirt on the fuel tank paint. Note the weld in the tank too adding to the surface information.

Decision Making

As we can see from above decisions about treating museum objects are not based purely only on their physical state or the science of preservation, many other factors come into play in the decision making process. Each object has a life and things that have happened to it over that life can be read from the object. There may be connections or evidence of important historic events, cultural or religious practices or ownership or use by an important national figure.

Insert figure 7

Figure 7 After Humphreys - conservation decision-making zone.

Conservation treatments have to be carefully crafted so that the evidence of the object’s “life” is not damaged. This requires an understanding of the values that make the object significant and a decision about what stage in the object’s life will be represented after work is complete. Significance and value are the primary determinates of the treatment approaches to be taken with an object or collection of objects.

Risk – damage to significance

Risk - Corrosion in static storage.

Objects with lubrication, hydraulic and cooling systems corrode and deteriorate if they are stored without maintenance and monitoring program that circulates and changes inhibitors. This was exemplified by the studies carried out by Heath et al on a Lancaster Bombers coolant system (G. A. Heath et al., 2002). Objects with void spaces and lap joints faire a little better in static storage but will still corrode where moisture and debris can build up. The risk of corrosion detrimentally affecting the significance of the objects is very high.

Risk- Analysis Monitoring object and environment

Looking at the objects under your care are the best methods of accessing the risks of deterioration.

Monitoring methods for tracking corrosion and deterioration objects can be divided into the following types;Sensual, Visual, Physical analysis,and Chemical analysis

The interpretation of these variables is often subjective! Typically an older traditionally trained mechanic or engineer will use all of these to access the state of an object and its ability to perform its original function. Smell, taste, feel, sound and look are all critical in the engineers' decision-making. Rather than measure, the pH of a fluid the traditionalist will access the acidity much as a traditional winemaker would – smell and taste.

Conservators do not necessarily have the skills (or desire) to emulate this so have to rely on a quantitative approach to assessment of condition or change in condition.

Fluid analysis has been used as a tool in the monitoring and failure analysis of operating LTO's for decades (Myshkin et al., 2003). This has mainly been with high value installations or with LTO that will cause a high loss of life if they should fail (e.g. aircraft). Detection of changes in corrosion or wear before its effects can be seen or heard means that remedial action can avert tragedy and the high value asset can be repaired and put back into service. XRF using a portable XRF unit is useful; for tracking alloying elements in oils , brake fluids and coolants but as it is a bulk monitoring it only give an indication of what is happening in the thin films and crevasses and often results are visible only after substantial damage has already happened.

Measurement of changes in structural dimensions are one way of monitoring the state of large externally displayed objects and are currently being used with success in Hong Kong  (Tse et al. ,2011) and Fremantle on (dry docked) ship and a submarine.

Risk

Risk assessment in industry is a well managed process (Fujiyama et al., 2004). Getting conservators to place formal risk assessement into a practical framework is challenging however, by multiplying the risk by a fractional consequence factor a hierarchy of needs is rapidly developed (Hallam et al, 2010)

Insert figure 8

Figure 8 In this example storage and limited use is the best preventive outcome.

Corrosivity Measurements

The effect of environment on the materials of construction is critical to the long term preservation of objects. Having effective methods for assessing the environment of storage and display would mean this data could be used to predict the maintenance requirements of the objects and predict rates of decay and lifetimes in a meaningful way (Ryhl-Svendsen, 2008). This kind of approach has been used in the Defence forces to predict maintenance requirements of the fleet and predict budgets.

Preventive conservation of Aluminium objects

Cleanliness

Cleanliness is critical with aluminium since defects in the protective oxide film will respond to differential aeration microenvironments created by grease, dirt and dust. In addition the different porosity of coatings and their variable permittivity to oxygen migration will seriously affect the long term performance of the underlying metal It is essential to avoid alkaline solutions since these will dissolve significant parts of the oxide film which contains all the historical information about the object. Similarly it is vital not to use strong mineral acids to clean the metal. Use of non-ionic detergents such as Lissipol The metals finishing and inhibitor companies like Turco, Cortec or Ardrox will have a product that can do exactly what you want in the manner you wish to.

Removal of dust and light grim with microfiber cloths is very effective.

Insert figure 9

Figure 9 Reducing time of wetness by reducing pooling of water.

Reducing water accumulation and time of wetness

Reducing water accumulation and time of wetness on objects will reduce corrosion rates by several orders of magnitude (Vernon, 1927) In the simplest case it could mean making sure water does not pool in, on or around the object . (Fig 10) or moving the object into a covered area or placing it in a appropriate storage area.

Insert figure 10

Figure 10 Moving objects indoors significantly reduces corrosion rates.

Coatings

Waxes and acrylics are not effective as a "maintenance” coating. For large objects in the less than ideal storage conditions, such as commercial aircraft, the best approach is to use Water Displacing Corrosion Preventatives (WDCP) (Wilson and Devereux 1984). These coatings can be used in museums as part of a cyclical maintenance program (Hallam et al. 2004). Likewise they could also be used on internal void spaces of sculptures and other objects where condensation is a risk. With lacquers we need to be aware that aluminium will undergo filiform corrosion under them if no inhibitor is present and pollution residues are present on the metal surface. Insufficent film thickness is a critical factor in promoting this form of corrosion.

Mothballing

Placing collections into long term storage has been practiced by the Military and their techniques of outdoor storage can be emulated with success (Mikesh 1989) Techniques involving dehumidification have been well documented (Munters ,1984) (Cargoaire, 1988)(Turner, 2005)

Wrapping with plastic shrink wrap to create sealed environments as well as the use of , inhibitors coating and washing (Gelner, 1998) (Miksic, Johnson, and Martin, 1984)

None of these strategies is a panacea as they all need to be accessed for periodic inspections and this will often seriously compromise the protective systems.

Maintenance strategies.

Products and Procedures

Finding a successful preventive practice model or suite of options involves a critical assessment of the relevance of commercial products and trade practices that have been rigorously assessed in conservation laboratories for their relevance and effectiveness (figure11)

Insert figure 11

Figure 11 Produce a collaborative workspace.

Maintenance

Maintenance of operating functional objects in safe condition is essential to avoid the serious consequences of incorrect storage. Works by Weil and Hallam et. al. should be consulted for details of practice and procedures that need to be followed, particularly for LTO’s. Maintenance Framework

Experience at the National Museum of Australia (NMA) has developed new procedures that assist museum collection managers to develop scheduled monitored maintenance and maintain full functionality preservation as cost effective approaches to care of technology collections. This approach targets conservation for the most important, most used and most vulnerable and demonstrates the consequences of no response. Details of the methodology can be found on the NMA website and in recent publications in the ICOM CC Metals Working Group conferences (Hallam in Metal 2010).

Insert figure 12

Figure 12 David Monthan Airforce base

Dehumidification and desert storage

Dinsmore and Lund (1962), ,Erickson.(1954)  and Killingray (1986)  discuss the problems of the storage of functional objects in a military context for periods of non-operation. Dehumidification and periodic exercise are necessary to maintain functional objects in operable condition in long term storage. David Monthan AFB (Airforce Base) (fig 12) uses natural dehumidification and yearly maintenance on its flying aircraft. Some aircraft have been stored for 20 years prior to being flown out. The Prototype 707 owned by NASM SI was stored under this regime before being flown to Seattle for a rebuild in 1990 and finally to The Dash 80's to Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C. on August 27, 2003.

Dehumidification has been used in museums for objects such as the optical equipment at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra or tanks in a maintenance storage cycle. A similar approach using the natural dry environments of Canberra has been used to store vehicles (fig 13).

Insert figure 13

Figure 13 Vehicles kept dust free and dry in storage maintenance cycle.

Hazards

When dealing with materials that were produced in the last century one has to assume the primers used were the best available, hence we can assume that zinc chromates were used extensively in the construction of objects. Chromates will also have been used in the anodizing processes. Cadmium will have been used in any associated ironwork.  If we are dealing with aircraft we can assume that radioactive luminous paints will have been part of the instruments and may be redeposited through lower sections of the aircraft structure.

Since PCB’s will exist in the electronics it is essential to take a cautious approach to ensure we understand the hazards and how to deal with them within appropriate legislative backgrounds of your state or country.

Conclusions

We need to be aware of what you are conserving and why, and for whom you are doing this job. It is important to understand what is significant and what are the risks of losing that significance due to degradation? We need to choose our preventive processes to minimize that degradation with minimal intervention. We need to choose and execute our preventive processes in a collaborative manner and unbiased manner. Aluminium alloy artefacts need to be kept clean, dry and maintained. During these processes it is vital to be alert to a wide range of hazards to health associated with the use of past technologies where the implications of long-term exposure to toxic and radioactive materials was poorly understood.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Ian MacLeod for reviewing the paper in its draft form and giving some valuable guidance.

Author Biography

David Hallam has been involved in the conservation of cultural heritage since the mid 1970’s and have specialized in metallic and technological objects conservation. For more than 20 years headed the metallic objects conservation program at the Australian War Memorial and has a practical understanding of World War Two objects and their deterioration.

Since then he was Head of Conservation at Queensland Museum and in 1999 established the objects conservation program at the National Museum of Australia (NMA). In 2012 David Hallam left the public service in 2012 to become a consultant, undertake further study and rebuild a shop in Tasmania.

During his career he has always had a practical hands on approach to preventive conservation programs, treatment and treatment development programs. This approach lead to his appointment as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution (NASM SI) in 1989 and to several appointments as a visitor or Visiting Fellow at the Research School of Chemistry at ANU.

References

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Ashton, John, and David Hallam. 1990. “The Conservation of Functional Objects–an Ethical Dilemma.” AICCM Bulletin 16 (3): 19–26.

Bailey, G.T. 2004. “Stabilization of a Wrecked and Corroded Aluminium Aircraft.” In Metal 04: Proceedings of the International Conference on Metals Conservation = Actes de La Conférence Internationale Sur La Conservation Des Métaux, Canberra, Australia, 4-8 October 2004, 453–64. Australia: National Museum of Australia.

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Dean, S.W, and Eds Rhea E. C. 1982. “Atmospheric Corrosion of Metals.” In , edited by S. C. Byrne and A. C. Miller, pp.359–373. Effect of Atmospheric Pollutant Gases on the Formation of Corrosive Condensate on Aluminium. American Society for Testing and Materials.

Degrigny, Christian. 1993. “La Mise Au Point D’un Traitement Cathodique de Stabilisation de Vestiges Aéronautiques Immergés En Alliages D’aluminium.” In Saving the Twentieth Century: The Conservation of Modern Materials: Proceedings of a Conference Symposium 91: Saving the Twentieth Century, Ottawa, Canada, 15 to 20 September, 1991 = Sauvegarder Le XXe Siècle: La Dégradation et Conservation Des Matériaux Modernes: Les Actes de La Conférence Symposium 91: Sauvegarde Le XXe Siècle, Ottawa, Canada, Du 15 Au 20 Septembre 1991, 373–80. Canada: Canadian Conservation Institute.

Deltombe, E, and M. Pourbaix. 1958. “The Electrochemical Behaviour of Aluminium. Potential pH Diagram of the System Al-H2O at 25C.” Corrosion 14 (11): pp.496–500.

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Dinsmore O. R Jr. 1962. “Protection Problems Encountered in Storing Military Equipment.” Materials Protection 1 (1): pp.66–73.

Fujiyama, Kazunari, Satoshi Nagai, Yasunari Akikuni, Toshihiro Fujiwara, Kenichiro Furuya, Shigeru Matsumoto, Kentaro Takagi, and Taro Kawabata. 2004. “Risk-Based Inspection and Maintenance Systems for Steam Turbines.” International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 81 (10–11): 825–35. doi:10.1016/j.ijpvp.2004.07.005.

G. A. Heath, A. J. Edwards, M. Sterns, G. Bailey, and V. Otieno-Alego. “‘Crystals from an Aged Merlin.’ Corrosion Deposits Found in the Engines of the Historic Avro-Lancaster Bomber G-for-George,.” In Conservation Science 2002. Archetype Publications Ltd.

Gelner, L. 1998. “Combined Use of Vapor Corrosion Inhibitors (VCI) and Dehumidification (DH) for Plant and Equipment Mothballing or Lay-Up.” CORROSION 98.

Hallam, D., D. Thurrowgood, V. Otieno-Alego, and D. Creagh. 2004. “An EIS Method for Assessing Thin Oil Films Used in Museums.” In , edited by John Ashton and David Hallam, 388–99. Canberra; Australian Capital Territory; Australia: National Museum of Australia.

Hedditch, Chris, Ainslie Greiner, David Hallam, and David Thurrowgood. 2011. “An Investigation of Glycol Based Corrosion Inhibitors in Museum Collection Vehicle Braking Systems.” In Metal 2010: Proceedings of the Interim Meeting of the ICOM-CC Metal Working Group, October 11-15, 2010, Charleston, South Carolina, USA, 152–59. United States: Clemson University.

Humphrey, Vicky. 2012. “Conservation Decision-Making Zone.”

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Mikesh, Robert C. 1971. “Preserving Unsheltered Exhibit Aircraft.” NA CitA1089 CP 4: 19.

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Myshkin, N.K., L.V. Markova, M.S. Semenyuk, H. Kong, H.-G. Han, and E.-S. Yoon. 2003. “Wear Monitoring Based on the Analysis of Lubricant Contamination by Optical Ferroanalyzer.” Wear 255 (7–12): 1270–75. doi:10.1016/S0043-1648(03)00175-3.

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Ryhl-Svendsen, Morten. 2008. “Corrosivity Measurements of Indoor Museum Environments Using Lead Coupons as Dosimeters.” Journal of Cultural Heritage 9 (3): 285–93. doi:10.1016/j.culher.2008.01.005.

Schwarz, George, and Peter Fix. 2011. “Approaches to the Preservation of Sunken Historic Aircraft.” In Metal 2010: Proceedings of the Interim Meeting of the ICOM-CC Metal Working Group, October 11-15, 2010, Charleston, South Carolina, USA, edited by Paul Mardikian, Claudia Chemello, Christopher Watters, and Peter Hull, 63–69. Clemson: Clemson University.

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Turner, Robert. 2005. “Conservation of the SS Great Britain.” ICON News: The Magazine of the Institute of Conservation (1): 28–32.

Vargel, C. 2004. Corrosion of Aluminium. Elsevier Science Limited. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=X712ZMZhKvMC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=%22is+valuable+for+products+used+in+architecture,+construction,+civil%22+%22heat+exchangers+and+many+other%22+%22its+early+industrial+days+aluminium+was+used+in+many+areas+of%22+&ots=LlVdT-hExw&sig=iXLN7C8f0tNWjRt-pgrVwEgt5pk.

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Wain, Alison. 2012. “Size Matters: Seeing the Values in Large Technology Heritage”. PhD, Canberra; Australian Capital Territory; Australia: Australian National University.

Wheeler, K.R, A.B Johnson, and R.P May. 1982. “Aluminium Alloy Performance in Industrial Air-Cooled Applications.” In , edited by S. W. Dean and E. C. Rhea, pp.116–134. Atmospheric Corrosion of Metals. USA: American Society for testing and Materials.

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Safe in the shed.

Caring for historic farm machinery.

This is a publication by the New South Wales Heritage office quite a beautiful publication put out in 2001. Page 16. Quoted. My comments are underlines. Done with speech recognition so its not perfect!

Tips for preservation.

Historic farm machinery can usually survive for long periods where it belongs, as it as long as there is basic security, protection from pests and shelter from the elements. Generally, we don’t leave machinery outside and exposed. The following tips will hopefully store and preserve historic farm machine, in particular if it is no longer used for stall in music.

Paintwork, leather, felt, would, paper.

Throw away the paintbrush and avoid pouring fluids on the machine! Painting ruins old finishes in sign writing and can diminish the research potential of the machine, Losing evidence of how was used and made. It might cover details where the machinery was manufactured or scars from its use. Seek advice on other reversible products that can prevent rust.

Store machinery away from direct sunlight to protect the original paintwork and material stop keep gutters clean and ensure that Gerald drainage keeps the storage shelter dry

keep vegetable matter or reminiscence grain that might attract pests or keep a sample of the remnants in a single back with the catalogue documentation. If you don’t know what the machinery was used for, this will provide some clues. In

wheels tires and axles.

Put wheeled vehicles and farm implements on axles, so that the wheel is clear of the ground or floor. This reduces the potential for rust or insect damage from the floor ground contact metal stands are better than what and should have enough base area to be stable when the item is raised.

The stands will wait rubber tyres which could cause cracking or flat spots let down pneumatic tires, so they will last longer.

Internal combustion engines and mechanical into.

Where you can, drain old oils and fuels. I disagree with this is a blank statement. It needs some riders.

Use appropriate lubricants for functional machining that are run from time to time. Obviously I believe that all objects should have inhibited lubricants in the and all objects should be if possible turned from time to time even if they’re not run.

Using inhibited lubricants to protect the chemical into terminals from corrosion when they are in storage companies can advise on suitable products. Penrite in Oz.

Make sure any areas that hold water are drained, including radiators and cooling tanks. Drain and open spaces which are designed to be open to allow allow thorough drying. I’d like to see more use of wet storage with inhibitors if possible.

Often pockets of trapped water can be drained using a piece of cloth that acts as a week. This is a good idea if you have to.

The publication then goes on about security and safety.

Use specifications and the "Charter of Turin"

I was researching use specifications for museum motor vehicles and of course came across the charter of Turin. The “riga” for automobiles!

It’s on the 2016 The Fede ration Internationale des Ve hicules Anciens web but almost impossible to find due to the wondrous “flash” interface!

A copy is posted below as text.

I hope this more accessible text is of use to museum professionals.

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Fédération  Internationale  des  Véhicules  Anciens The  Turin  Charter Ratified  by  the  General  Assembly  of  FIVA Munich,  October  27th,  2012 

INTRODUCTION 

The  Fédération  Internationale  des  Véhicules  Anciens  (FIVA)  is  the  world federation  of  historic  vehicle  clubs.  It  supports  and  encourages  the  preservation and  responsible  use  of  historic  vehicles  as  an  important  part  of  our  technical  and cultural  heritage.  Historic  vehicles  are  significant  in  their  role  as  means  of transport,  as  witnesses  to  their  historic  origins,  the  technical  state  of  the  art  of their  period  and  last  but  not  least  for  their  impact  on  society.

The  scope  of  this  Charter  includes  mechanically  propelled  road  and  non---rail land  vehicles.  A  vehicle  is  considered  to  be  historic  once  it  complies  with  the Charter  and  the  applicable  FIVA  definitions.  The  Charter  may  include  buildings and  related  artieacts  to  historic  vehicles  and  their  period  of  operation,  such  as factories,  fuel  stations,  roads  or  racetracks. For  many  years  the  owners  of  historic  vehicles,  the  curators  of  historic  vehicle collections  and  the  restorers  of  historic  vehicles  have  been  very  successful  at salvaging,  preserving  and  keeping  historic  vehicles  in  operation. 

This  Charter was  approved  by  FIVA  to  provide  guidance  for  decisions  and  treatments  in relation  to  historic  vehicles. 

The  Turin  Charter  unites  the  guiding  principles  for the  use,  upkeep,  conservation,  restoration  and  repair  of  historic  vehicles. This  Charter  is  based  on  and  inspired  by  UNESCO's  Venice  Charter  (1964),  the Barcelona  Charter  (2003,  historic  ships)  and  the  Riga  Charter  (2005,  historic  rail vehicles). 

CHARTER 

Article  1. 

Aim

The  aim  of  this  Charter  is  to  preserve  and  safeguard  the  history  of  vehicles including  their  engineering,  form,  functions  and  documented  histories  and  their many  and  diverse  relationships  with  society  and  social  environments. To  understand,  appreciate  and  ensure  the  preservation  and  operation  of  historic vehicles,  including  their  use  on  public  roads,  it  is  important  to  use  the  research methods,  scientific,  historical  and  technical  knowledge  available  and  involve  the organisations  and  facilities  working  in  this  sector. 

Article  2. 

Future Preservation,  restoration  and  any  related  work  processes  are  aimed  at sustaining  historic  vehicles  as  both  technical  artefacts  and  witnesses  of  transport history  and  culture.  It  is imperative  to  pass  on  the  methods  used,  material knowledge  and  work  processes  to  future  generations.  We  also  aim  to  preserve the  special  knowledge,  expertise  and  skills  related  to  the  manufacture  and operation  of  such  vehicles. 

Article  3. 

Care Permanent  and  sustainable  care  is  essential  for  the  survival  of  historic  vehicles. Responsible  use  of  historic  vehicles,  including  on  public  roads,  is  important  for their  preservation.  It  is  the  only  way  to  fully  understand  and  pass  on  the traditional  knowledge  of  driving  and  maintaining  them  for  future  generations. 

Article  4. 

Position It  is  beneficial  for  the  preservation  of  historic  vehicles  that  they  are  seen  as  an integral  part  of  public  life  and  perceived  as  a  contribution  to  our  cultural heritage. It  is  important  and  desirable  that  they  can  be  used.  However,  in  order  to  use them,  historic  vehicles  should  not  be  modified  more  than  necessary.  Unavoidable modifications  should  not  interfere  with  the  historic  substance.  As  a  matter  of principle,  they  should  not  alter  the  vehicle's  period  engineering  and  appearance. 

Article  5. 

Processes The  preservation  of  historic  vehicles  can  require  interventions  or  restorations  to different  extents.  Preservation  means  the  care  and  prevention  from deterioration  or  damage,  by  which  the  present  condition,  individual  and memorial  quality  of  a  historic  vehicle  or  object  is  safeguarded. Conservation  includes  all  acts  serving  to  secure  and  stabilise  the  vehicle  or  object that  do  not  alter  the  historic  substance,  parts  and  materials.  Conservation treatment  will  not  put  at  risk  the  object's  historical  or  material  documentary value  in  any  way.  It  serves  exclusively  to  prevent  or  at  least  delay  continued deterioration.  Usually,  such  measures  are  not  visible  on  the  surface. Restoration  is  the  process  of  replacing  missing  parts  or  areas  with  the  aim  of displaying  an  earlier  state  of  the  vehicle  and  goes  further  than  conservation. Restored  areas  should  discreetly  blend  in  with  the  existing  historic  stock,  but remain  distinguishable  on  closer  inspection. This  is  different  from  repair,  that  stands  for  the  adaptation,  refurbishment  or replacement  of  existing  or  missing  components.  Repair  makes  a  vehicle  fully operational  again  and  may  not  take  into  account  the  authentic  substance belonging  to  the  vehicle. Preservation,  conservation,  and  restoration  are  specialised  processes  aimed  at safeguarding  and  displaying  a  vehicle's  engineering,  aesthetic,  functional,  social and  historic  value.  They  should  aim  at  understanding  and  considering  the original  design and  the  historic  background  of  the  individual  vehicle.  They  should  be  based  on respect  for  the  individual  historic  entity  and  information  found  in  authentic documents. 

Article  6. 

History Any  changes  and  modifications  to  a  vehicle  which  occurred  during  its  ordinary life  span  and  altering  its  condition  as  originally  delivered  are  testimonials  of  the vehicle's  history  and  should  be  preserved  as  such.  Therefore  it  is  not  necessary to  restore  a  historic  vehicle  in  a  way  that  adjusts  its  look  and  technical  features back  to  the  appearance  of  the  manufacturing  date.  A  restoration  that  would return  a  vehicle  to  the  appearance  of  a  certain  period  should  only  be  attempted with  careful  examination  of  historical  records  or  thorough  planning. Components  and  materials  inserted  to  replace  historic  parts  in  the  process  of  a restoration  should  be  identified  with  simple  and  permanent  markings  to distinguish  them  from  the  historic  substance.  For  replaced  parts,  FIVA recommends  the  marking  system  attached  to  this  charter  (see Appendix) 

Article  7. 

Accuracy During  the  restoration  of  historic  vehicles  historically  accurate  materials  and work  techniques  are  preferred,  unless  such  materials  or  techniques  can  no longer  be  used  because  of  safety  concerns,  lack  of  availability  or  legal prohibitions.  Especially  in  the  conservation  of  historic  substance,  traditional materials  may  not  be  adequate.  As  elsewhere  in  the  field  of  restoration,  modern materials  and  working  techniques  may  then  be  used  instead,  provided  they  have been  proven  adequate  and  durable  in  experiments  or  tried  in  practice. Article  8. Appearance Any  modifications  to  a  historic  vehicle  required  outside  of  its  ordinary  lifespan should  be  integrated  discreetly  and  respect  the  original  structure  and appearance.  Such  modifications  should be  reversible.  It  is  recommended  that  any important  original  parts  removed  should  be  kept  with  the  vehicle  for  later  use and  to  serve  as  reference  of  their  original  existence  and  make. 

Article  9. 

Planning Any  work  undertaken  on  a  historic  vehicle  should  be  planned  systematically  and documented  in  an  appropriate  manner.  These  records  should  be  maintained with  the  vehicle. Article  10. 

Archives Any  persons,  facilities  and  organisations  involved  in  the  preservation, conservation,  restoration,  repair  and  operation  of  historic  vehicles  should  take appropriate  steps  to  protect  their  records  and  archives. 

Article  11. 

Status Institutions  engaged  in  the  preservation  and  transfer  of  knowledge  or  specialist skills  required  in  the  preservation  and  operation  of  historic  vehicles  should  seek recognition  by  international  and  national  governmental  authorities  as  cultural heritage  and  institutions Archives  consisting  of  documents,  drawings,  photographs  or  other  media  and artefacts  relating  to  historic  vehicles  should  be  cared  for  as  part  of  the  cultural heritage.

Turin  Charter  Working  Group  /  

FIVA  Cultural  Commission:  Thomas  Kohler, Gundula  Tutt,  Rainer  Hindrischedt,  Mario  De  Rosa,  Alfieri  Maserati,  Stefan Musfeld  and Mark  Gessler 

Appendix 

Recommended Marking  System The  system  uses  the  following letters  for  permanent  marking: 

NB  ="newly  built"  an  accurate  as possible  a  copy  in  terms  of  form,  materials  and make,  reproduced  directly  from  a  documented  original) 

FR  ="free  reconstruction"  (reconstruction  without  using  any  historic  model  in terms  of  form,  material  or  work  technique.  The  part  however  fulfils  the  technical function  of  an  historic  component  utilised  earlier) 

CS  ="conservational  stabilisation"  (a  later  structural  reinforcement  added  to stabilize  the  historic  substance). We  recommend  the  indication  of  the  year  of  restoration  /manufacture  of  the replacement  part  with  the  two---letter  code.

2016 The Fede ration Internationale des Ve hicules Anciens

Conservation of Oxide coated Metals by David Hallam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Conservation Management Plans significance and Riga Charter

Its interesting working with LTO’s (Large Technological Objects) that don’t quite fit into the “site” category because they are too small and move but are way too big to fit the “normal” criteria.

Each has developed there own derivations of The  Burra Charter

As this project _as yet unnamed as I have yet to get permission to name it. We will see how this affects the development of a revised significance statement and CMP (Conservation Management Plan).

Below Riga stripped from pdf and edited in Markdown. Sort of fun.

/dlh.

 

Riga Charter

European Federation of Museum & Tourist Railways Fédération Européenne des Chemins de Fer Touristiques et Historiques Europäische Föderation der Museums- und Touristikbahnen THE RIGA CHARTER Adopted by unanimous vote of FEDECRAIL members at their Annual Meeting held at Anse near Lyon on 16th April 2005 having been first proposed in Riga, capital of Latvia. The Riga Charter v10en.doc, Okt.05 1/4 European Federation of Museum & Tourist Railways Fédération Européenne des Chemins de Fer Touristiques et Historiques Europäische Föderation der Museums- und Touristikbahnen

INTRODUCTION

THIS CHARTER HAS BEEN CREATED TO GUIDE DECISIONS THAT WILL RESULT IN HERITAGE RAILWAYS BEING ABLE TO BE ENJOYED BY FUTURE GENERATIONS. HERITAGE RAILWAYS HAVE BEEN VERY SUCCESSFUL IN RESCUING, RESTORING, PRESERVING AND OPERATING HISTORIC EQUIPMENT. WE HOPE THAT THIS CHARTER WILL HELP EVERYONE INVOLVED TO SEE OPPORTUNITIES FOR MAKING WISE DECISIONS. IT HAS BEEN CREATED TO ACCOMPANY THE SEVERAL OTHER CHARTERS RELATING TO HERITAGE CONSERVATION

PURPOSE

The Riga Charter is a statement of principles which guide the conservation, restoration, maintenance and repair and use of historic railway equipment, which is being operated. It is hoped that this will help our members make wise decisions.

DEFINITIONS

• Heritage Railways referred to in this Charter, may also include historic or preserved railways,museum railways and tramways, working railway and tram museums and tourist railways, and may extend to heritage trains operating on the national network and other railways.

• Railway Equipment referred to in this Charter may include buildings or infrastructure which form part of the railway ensemble.

• Preservation is the process of keeping an object safe from harm and decomposition, by maintaining it properly so that its condition, quality and memory is retained.

• Conservation is the process of stabilising the condition of an object without compromising the historical or material evidence in any way.

• Restoration is the process of repairing or replacing missing parts in an attempt to regain an earlier state of the object. The restoration may increase the strength of the object before work started, and may generally go further than conservation. It should neither be invisible or glaringly obvious.

• Repair is the process of adjustment or replacement of the components. The specified standard of mechanical condition is achieved irrespective of the historic integrity of parts that may be altered or discarded.

Article 1

Scientific and technical skills, together with the facilities needed to preserve and operate historic railway equipment, within a culture of safety, should be used to safeguard railway heritage.

Article 2

The aim of preserving and restoring historic railway items and associated working practices is to safeguard them, whether they are significant technological artefacts, evidence for transport history or a means of perpetuating traditional skills.

Article 3

Maintenance of all aspects of their equipment, and operation on a regular basis is essential for the survival of heritage railways. Operating historic and valuable railway equipment with traditional operating procedures, and presenting it to the public, is an important means of interpreting that material.

Article 4

Identifying socially useful purposes for historic railway items will help facilitate their preservation, but such use should involve the minimum change necessary, and such changes should be fully reversible.

Article 5

A heritage railway should reflect not only the importance of its own role as a transport system, but also when appropriate, its own historic origins and its impact on the community.

Article 6

The process of restoration is a highly specialised operation. Its aim is to preserve and reveal the aesthetic, functional and historic value of traditional railway equipment. It should be based on respect and an understanding wherever possible of the original designs and specifications.

Article 7

The original or historically correct materials and techniques should be used in the conservation of historic railway items, unless they can no longer be adopted for reasons of safety, legislation or availability. In such cases appropriate contemporary substitutes for such materials or techniques should be used.

Article 8

The restoration of a piece of historic railway equipment does not require that it must be restored to its original as built state. Some equipment acquires its historic importance later on in its working life. Restoration to any period should be executed only after thorough consideration of historic records, and available documentation covering the chosen period, after which a restoration plan should be written and adopted. Material that is replaced with new should be readily identified as such with a simple permanent marking system.

Article 9

Added mandatory safety equipment should if possible blend harmoniously with the conserved or restored item but the fact that it is an addition or alteration to the original make-up of the item should be clearly indicated.

Article 10

Any other necessary later modifications to the item that are introduced for whatever reason should be as sympathetic as possible to the make-up and appearance of the original item. Ideally any such modification should be reversible and any significant original parts removed should be retained for possible future re-use.

Article 11

Every stage in the conservation or restoration work on a historic railway item should be systematically planned and recorded. The resultant record of these processes retained for a minimum of the life of the item.

Article 12

All bodies involved in the repair, restoration, maintenance, conservation and operation of heritage railways and railway equipment, must make proper arrangements for the conservation of their records and archives.

The Riga Charter v10en.doc, Okt.05 2/4 European Federation of Museum & Tourist Railways Fédération Européenne des Chemins de Fer Touristiques et Historiques Europäische Föderation der Museums- und Touristikbahnen

Conservation of Oxide coated Metals by David Hallam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons Copyright

Conservation of Oxide coated Metals by David Hallam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Timelines - data visualisation

Data visualisation is a problem when you are looking at the history and technology of materials. Different things happened at different times in different companies in different places throughout the world.
Information on the adoption of particular technologies is hard to come by from outside the industry being studied.
Patents are great as markers but they say nothing about adoption. They are just like cats marking the territory.
If a technology is unpublished , unpatented and secretive then it is even harder to track. One source is the “old boys” doing reminiscences as they retire or are asked back to speak at a dinner about “outdated technologies”. But be prepared for may “about 20 years ago” unquote statements.
Turning this data into a sensible format is also problematic. After many false starts I found Aeon and from this can produce a image file.

  Zinc - very drafty

Nickel timeline - very drafty
More later...
Conservation of Oxide coated Metals by David Hallam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

release early release often

release early release often _as a publication method_

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Release early, release often (also: time-based releases, sometimes abbreviated RERO) is a software development philosophy that emphasizes the importance of early and frequent releases in creating a tight feedback loop between developers and testers or users, contrary to a feature-based release strategy. Advocates argue that this allows the software development to progress faster, enables the user to help define what the software will become, better conforms to the users' requirements for the software,^[1] and ultimately results in higher quality software.^[2] The development philosophy attempts to eliminate the risk of creating software that no one will use.^[3]

This philosophy was popularized by Eric S. Raymond in his 1997 essay The Cathedral and the Bazaar, where Raymond stated "Release early. Release often. And listen to your customers".^[4]

This philosophy was originally applied to the development of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, but has also been applied to closed source, commercial software development.

The alternative to the release early, release often philosophy is aiming to provide only polished, bug-free releases.^[5] Advocates of RERO question that this would in fact result in higher-quality releases.^[4]

The aim of publication is to get accurate, reliable information out into the working community as quickly as is possible so it can change work methods and approaches. The current methods of peer review that are based in the old print journal tradition are not really useful in the digital age. The publishing houses are trying to consolidate their grip on digital content so you have to access the most up to date content from behind a “pay wall”. For those of us in the heritage community this leads to the dumbing down of our practice as we loose access to the latest data and discussions. We and up with “Haves" and "Have-nots”. Those with access to data and those who have no access.
If we look at the software industry we can see it is divided into the propriety software that exists behind a “paywall” of propriety secrets  and the open source which is often free ($) and to which you have access to the source code under a GPL licence.
Heritage information should be like this. Free and Open.
Ok so why "release early release often _as a publication method_” ?
Well if you are “publishing” on a public platform such as a wiki or a semi public blog that requires membership you can publish several versions and ask for peer comment between each version. This way you can get the information out in a timely way and also have some review method. Yes most will take your publication at face value or just mutter polite nothings behind your back. But also you will get some real useful critiques. Oh and a bit of daft spam!
I will be adopting this method with my recent Oxides work. Enjoy and please critique. Oh you will have to sign in - reduces spam :-)

Surfaces of modern metals in Heritage conservation questionnaire

This questionnaire is an attempt to access how the heritage conservation community understands the surfaces of modern metals. It is being conducted by David Hallam as part of a project  on the Recognition and History and technology of oxide coated modern metals.

Oxide coated modern metals

What are modern metals?

Any metal or major new alloy grouping commercialised after 1851. They may be the core of an object (as in stainless steel) or just the very surface as in metal coated plastic.

I consider oxide coated modern metals to be those that are primarily used in a bare state in such a way that the oxide is the primary interface with the environment. These metals maintain their stability thru the passive nature of this oxide. The oxide may be as a result of the alloy constitution or may be synthetically produced.

Examples are;

• Anodizing
• Zinc plate
• Phosphating
• Chromating
• MBV coatings
• Sheridizing
• Electroplated Tin
• Monel Metal
• German Silver
• Zinc-anneal
• Parkerizing
• Black Oxides coatings
• Electroplating
• Electroless plating

If you are a conservator, restorer, heritage manager or conservation scientist please go to;

http://goo.gl/forms/rS8xfPTSFo

And fill out the questionnaire.

Thanks

 

David Hallam

Wrapping up the Getty.

This week is wrap-up week.

I think I’ve achieve most of what I want. Working as a scholar at the Getty has been an amazing experience. I would recommend anyone with a serious conservation project that can be done succinctly within the timeframes should apply for a GCI scholar term.

When you arrive at the Getty you are told that the three months will disappear very fast, they did. As ever you start your project with certain parameters and ideas about what you’re going to get out of, your project then evolves as you gather information and results. Mine went through several stages stages of expanding and contracting. I now have some half decent timelines for metal finishing processes are massive database of PDF files which will be turned into a substantial bibliography and history and technology article. I also have a wide-ranging selection of conservation papers for the conservation review article. I’ve played with various forms of digital scholarship and have started to refine my processes even further.

On the Mac I’m using Zotero, Evernote, Scrivener, and Dragon. Most of this is transferable to linux. I’m pretty sure Dragon will work in wine.

Over the next few months I will post timelines, parts of chapters, bibliographies, and draft articles to this website. I will be asking for your candid non-critical feedback. I will be trying very hard to adopt the open source principle of release early and release often so initially I don’t care if there are problems with a page or information I don’t have I will put that in the post hoping that other people can help.

I’m looking for people who can help me decipher some of the German, Chinese, Japanese and East European articles I have. These articles I think outline the development of metal finishing in their home countries so it would be good to add these to a timeline. Currently my timelines are worldwide but I would like to make some of them regional.

I’ll be sad to leave here on Friday but I’ll be going on a road trip up to Seattle with my daughter to see some of the US. That should be great fun.

 

Digital workflow

One of the things I’m trying to do whilst I’m here at the Getty is to improve my digital workflow. I stopped worrying quite as much about what software I use and what operating system I use and I’m tending to concentrate more on the output.

I’m trying to ensure that my workflow can be used on any platform, Mac OS, LINUX, Windows. My basic workflow can be divided as follows;

• mind mapping
• bibliographic
• note taking
• writing
• editing.

 Mind mapping.

I use mind mapping to plot out what I think I’m going to write, and then to plot out each section. My choice of mind mapping software is really only limited by the requirement that it can output as opml. I find that my first mind maps are really exploring my thoughts as they currently stand are and they change quite drastically over the course of my project. As an aside comment I also use mind maps for doing such things as stream proposals short reports Project planning in fact many things. It is essential that the mind mapping software also has a facility for adding notes to each of the nodes in the mind map the note field is equivalent to a paragraph in a written work. My current software of choice on a Mac’s thoughts, and on Windows or Lenox its simpleminded.  I find that I thoughts is nice and clean and has all of the export functionality that I need. It pains me that it is a Mac only product and is definitely not open source. Simple mind by contrast is not really very clean and particularly if you hook it into dropbox you can find that your files are all over the place and you’re unsure of which version is which it also is not open source. Open source products such as freemind, plane mind or Docear are also available.

At the end of this process I will have a very draughty outline of how I feel the paper is going to be written.

Bibliographic

I try to do the majority of my bibliographic work online. Gone are the days when one could wander into a library and just find some books in the catalogue and then browse the shelves. Wherever possible I try to download the bibliographic data from wherever I have done the searches. On this current project I am finding the Getty’s online primo search to be invaluable. It allows me to look at what the Getty has in its collection first. Download the bibliographic data. And then spread the search wider.

For scientific papers I also use scope this and Google scholar. Please also don’t forget to use Google or being because both of these will capture when an academic has posted their papers to their own webpage. This can avoid the hassle of having to find something that is behind a pay wall. I tend to give open access periodical is a preference.

When I am searching the web I tend to capture my search results into Evernote and have a folder for each project the great thing about Evernote is that you can use it’s quite substantial search characteristics. The other wonderful thing about Evernote is that it will be accessible from any device that is network connected. Devon think is a product many people on Macs use but I find it too limited as it only works on one device and operating system.

Bibliographic software is quite crucial. I find that Zotero is best. Yes it doesn’t have a sexy interface but you can use it for collecting both bibliographic data from papers and also cataloguing appropriate blogs and academic websites. For capturing websites you need to use as tarot within Firefox. When I’m not capturing websites I tend to use is Zotero stand-alone.

Note taking

 If I’m not very careful I tend to end up with notes scattered all over the place, notebooks, digital notepads, scraps of paper and wood documents. What I have managed to do with this project is limit my note taking to Zotero, and within PDFs filed in Zotero.  I use is Zotfile to extract annotations, and store them in Zotero. I feel find that when I am reading a book or a large paper that it is useful to use speech recognition to record my comments in a text file. That text file can then be pasted into is Zotero as a note.

Obviously as I go through lit reading the literature and taking notes I will be having some brainstorms. Depending on where I am I will record these in Google Doc, or Google notes. From there they can easily be copied to’s Zotero  or they can be used to modify my mind maps.

Writing.

I use scriveners as my writing program of choice. All of my notes will be copied into the research section of my Scriven file. The outline of the mind map will be exported as OPM L and will provide the basic structure for my ritual written document. My notes bibliographic data and other thoughts can now be used to assist with my writing.

Again use voice recognition rather than typing for a majority of my written work. Currently I use Dragon product for my voice recognition. I must admit I get very frustrated with its constant demands to be updated and its constant inability to run on the present version of Mac OS without being updated. For some reason the cost of the updates always seems to be about the same as the cost of a brand-new version. Dragon would have to be one of the least open and most frustrating organisations to deal with as soon as there is a viable option I will use it.The main problem with using voice recognition software is that people think you’re rather mad sitting in a room talking to yourself. It can also be quite distracting for fellow workers in an open office space.

Editing.

Once I have finished my writing I normally check the document over in Scribner making sure that all of the sections are falling as I want them, stations are inserted and that they flow in the way I want them. I then compile the document. This time I’m going to try and use the RTF function of is it Aero to identify my citations and insert them after compilation. We will see how this goes. I expect to do the final checking and editing in libra office having used scriveners compilation to libra office.

 I will also use the compilation function to export drafts of sections which can then be posted to this website for external comment. Again and experiment.

Let’s see how these last two sections go.

 

Salt and Sugar

Coffee, Salt and sugar.
I’m amazed how much salt and sugar is hidden in average American sorry United States food. To make it even worse it’s hard to tell where this material is hidden because the labeling seems to give a priority to calories and lists everything as a percentage of the average daily income which is assumed to be 2000 cal. So things like sugar and salt are then listed as a percentage of the average daily in take for a mythical portion.
I used to moan about food labelling in Australia because it wouldn’t list many things by name but this system means that you never know whether one food has more salt or sugar than another because each of them tends to use different portions in their calculations. The Australian system of doing it as a percentage of the product by weight may not be ideal but it beats the hell out of this crazy system over here.
I think the only way of avoiding excess sugar salt and other additives is to buy directly from the producer or to make it yourself even then I wonder...
Mind you I must admit I am having a wonderful time discovering or rediscovering things about the United States and its consumption of food.
Did find decent coffee though. At a Vietnamese bakers. See around soon!