Cannons in the Washington Navy Yard (Important-pls look at new photos)

[subdjoe]

May I send a link to this page to my Senators and member of the House?

You mean they don't haunt this forum already?      I'm shocked! 

Seriously, it's in the public domain.  We're honored that you have respect of others and have extended the courtesy to ask!
You may wish to make it easy for them and cut and paste the salient points so they don't have to wade through all the discussion.

OH MY!! That's rich.  Somehow I don't think Sens. Feinstein and Boxer, or Rep. Mike Thompson have much sympathy for us here.  I'll think about editing it.  But part of me wants whichever staffer it is who sees this to see the discussion and concern for our history and national treasures

And, I know it is in the public domain, but that has nothign to do with being polite.

[Victor3]

 I don't know that I'd play the copper sulfate card.

 It's a somewhat benign chemical that's used for everything from clearing roots from sewage lines to killing snails. The CA DFG uses it to control algae in waterways. It's sold everywhere here in CA as a drain cleaner.

 If Kalifornica thinks its environmentally A-OK, you're not going to convince the Navy that it's all that bad dribbling from their cannons in minute concentrations.

[cannonmn]

If Kalifornica thinks its environmentally A-OK, you're not going to convince the Navy that it's all that bad dribbling from their cannons in minute concentrations.

There are probably some rare "endangered species" snails living only in Washington DC that are threatened by that stuff.

But thanks for the advice, we'll probably have to stick to the cannon damage unless we can identify those rare snails.

[KABAR2]

If Kalifornica thinks its environmentally A-OK, you're not going to convince the Navy that it's all that bad dribbling from their cannons in minute concentrations.

There are probably some rare "endangered species" snails living only in Washington DC that are threatened by that stuff.

But thanks for the advice, we'll probably have to stick to the cannon damage unless we can identify those rare snails.

Well here's a start.... http://neyture.info/teachered/endanger/reports/mollusks/snail~vfm/snail~vfm.html

                                 http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/WWW/esis/lists/e355003.htm

                                 http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3101/1098-7096-69.2.101?journalCode=kyac

                                http://books.google.com/books?id=PYOV5PcWVAsC&pg=PA1339&lpg=PA1339&dq=rare+snails+in+virginia&source=bl&ots=2UxF13C_ed&sig=D-qr5-Pt92ZOprpa4kIuExrnlrs&hl=en&ei=fCg-SvrbKJvMMsHMlKAO&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10

You'll just have to figure a way to get them it inhabit the Navy Yard...........

Seriously though I am hoping a answer to this ongoing problem will be found, one thing
comes to mind, someone had photos of bronze guns they took in Europe last year that
were a dark bronze color no green to be seen, if who ever took the photos could tell
us what museum these were at maybe they could be contacted to find out
how they are conserving these priceless cannon.

[subdjoe]

There are probably some rare "endangered species" snails living only in Washington DC that are threatened by that stuff.

At the risk of getting too political:

Yes, there are. They are called the honest politician. 

[cannonmn]

Allen, for that dark green look, go to 5:55 in this video I made, showing the one cannon in the Navy Yard that has underone what I'd call "today's fad" in bronze cannon conservation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vHZh-M7xIw

You blast it, then apply hot microcrystalline wax.  That stabilizes the surface as long as the wax holds up, which may not be more than a year.  This method won't work when the Navy may only get around to doing something once per century if that often.

All the bronze cannons in the park were once painted black, I'm guessing last coat was around WWII, but that's sheer guesswork.  The Venetian howitzers still have a good bit of it left, as you can see in my video no. 9?.  But mostly gone on all the other pieces.  You can see if you look closely how the black paint has protected the bronze under it, and the adjacent bronze is corroded and is being lost.

[thelionspaw]

CIVILLY

[Cannoneer]

CIVILLY

Rich, I'm not exactly sure what you intended by this post, but if you're using the definition: in a civil manner: POLITELY, and you are also meaning to point out that the opposite type of behavior (concerning the topic of this thread) has been demonstrated in the past, then I would say that you have made a very insightful observation. If you are suggesting that civility should be observed in future postings, not only because it's the right thing to do, but because this practice will invariably lead to better results, (to say nothing of the fact, that no one will ever have to worry about any non-member ever being offended by reading any thread on this forum) then I would say you've made an extremely intelligent recommendation.
RC, if both of my readings of your post are correct, then in my humble opinion you're one hell of a brilliant guy; if only half of my understanding of your post is correct then you're still one hell of a brilliant guy, only to a lesser degree; if my entire comprehension of your post turns out to be nothing but a misunderstanding, then disregard everything that I've said, except this:  HAVE A GREAT FATHERS DAY.

Aaww shucks, it just came to me, you may have simply meant, that with all due respect, (emoticon ) you are still undecided on the subject. In any event, at least I got to wish you a Happy Fathers Day.

[thelionspaw]

http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/Ci/Civily.html

I'm simply correcting the spelling in the letter that is being sent. I saw the error but after your post, I thought that I had better google to see if anything was ever put in B&W since there seems to be some confusion. I thought I would avoid verbosity and simply communicate the single word but thank ya'll for the opportunity to elucidate

Thank you also for the wish of the day and the observation that, "you're still one hell of a brilliant guy". How much do I owe you?  Taken from a guy who can quote obscure lines from "Henry V", that ain't no cheap compliment. 

Not knowing if you are a father or not, I'll still wish you the best of the day.  At my age, any day that you get out of bed and both feet hit the floor and your nose doesn't follow them,.............is a great day.

rc

[Cannoneer]

 I'd say that you were certainly successful in avoiding verbosity, your post could be displayed on a wall at MOMA, and described as 'Minimalist Art'. My first thought was that you simply might be correcting a spelling error, so I did quickly browse the preceding posts, but I missed it. Oh well, so I'm batting 0 for 4, this should serve as a lesson to me, to try and avoid making simple matters overly complicated. At least the end result could be viewed as a good thing; I think that you might agree with me that considering the "culture" that we live in, that most calls for showing a greater civility in our actions should be regarded as good advice.

[subdjoe]

I just posted a link to this thread on a political blog I frequent - Guntotingliberal.  In spite of his name, he is pretty centrist, and has a HUGE readership. I asked that people contact their reps in both houses of Congress asking for help to get the navy to do something to preserve these treasures.  Even if it is just something as simple as letting Cannonmn and others with some knowledge get the worst of the corrosion off and get some paint on them. 

[Double D]

As long as the Political aspect of this thread  stays on preserving cannons, I'll let it continue...but lets not drift of course....