LEAD & PEWTER
Lead and pewter items should be soaked in household paraffin and lightly brushed from time to time. After drying, coat with liquid paraffin, let it dry and then give a second coat.

CANDLE WAX
Another good method of preserving bronze, copper, brass, lead, and pewter items that have cleaned up nicely, with a good body of metal but not much patina, is to use a large white candle. Cut the candle up into small pieces and place them in a small aluminium saucepan - use an old one! Place the items on top of the candle bits and heat gently.

Do not leave the kitchen while the pan is still on the stove! If you have to leave the kitchen for any reason, to go to the door or to answer the telephone, remove the pan and turn the stove off! When the wax has melted, leave it on the heat for a further minute - no longer!  Take the pan from the heat and carefully remove the items - use large tweezers, or an old fork.  Place the items on a piece of wood to drain-off excess wax. When cool, pick up the items and rub them gently with your fingers to polish them. Remove any excess wax by scraping with a blunt plastic knife, or use your fingernail. For items with a nice patina, remove them from the wax as soon as the wax is melted. Experiment with a few bits first.

To reduce the thickness of the wax coat on any find, to show up any designs or lettering on them, place them in an old pan and cover then with water. Bring the water to the boil and leave it boil for a minute or two, no longer. Remove the find from the pan and place it on a board to drain. This will leave a much thinner, but still preserving, coat of wax and will allow the detail to show through. Polish and clean any excess wax off as before. 

To increase the wax coating on any find, remove the pan from the heat as normal, then remove the find from wax and leave it to cool for two or three minutes. Then dip the find back into the cooling wax and remove it immediately, and place it back on the board to drain. Finds done this way come up real nice.
The ideal tool to use for waxing or reducing wax, is an old chip pan, complete with a wire mesh chip basket. The basket is perfect for placing the finds into the wax, or into the water. You can use the same basket for both operations, but do not use the same pan for both.

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