Jennifer -
You might want to try contacting the Marine Conservation Lab at Texas A&M.  They work with removing barnacles and other marine encrustations from metal a lot.

Their web site is:       http://nautarch.tamu.edu/napcrl.htm     and they have an email link for contacting them.  Good Luck.
Kate Hogue
Conner Museum
Kingsville, TX

Jennifer Williams wrote:

> A colleague informed me she found a gun encrusted with barnacles and they
> have it soakingin water to remove them!! UGH! A long history about the gun,
> but just to say it may be from the 17th century. Anyway, how should the
> barnacles be removed???? Thanks!!!
> Jennifer L. Williams
> Independent Museum-type Person (IMP)
> Boone, NC
>
>            "There's no time like the past."
>                         -Capt. Braxton of USS Relativity
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