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#11
I’ve found electrolysis works better than wire brushes or a wire wheel on a bench grinder, and it’s a lot less time consuming work too.  Additionally, electrolysis cleans and removes rust, grease, old loose paint and crud in every little nook and cranny, which can be a real pain with a wire brush.  It works very well on things like old chains that are almost impossible to clean with a brush.  It’s also cool because it’s restorative, and completely non destructive to the original surface.
 
Even though you don’t really need to, every so often it’s nice to make a clean batch of electrolyte cuz it gets kind of dirty and disgusting.  I just dump the old electrolyte out on the lawn and it won’t even kill the grass because it’s just washing soda soap (sodium carbonate) and water.  Way more “green” than rust removing chemicals.
 
The only downside I’ve found is that it won’t remove well adhered good condition paint, and sadly you lose the beautiful old rust patina.  Its odd how sometimes an old rusty patina is actually very beautiful and so easy on the eyes.
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#12
Mark, for the most part, I agree, keep it like it is.
I would like to actually use the knife because my pop would have wanted it that way, so, I will be doing minimal cleanup work on the knife, as I would like it to have a decent edge.
That kid with the dremel tool did a number on parts of the edge, and the adult version of that kid would like to remedy the mistake Smile
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#13
(04-24-2017, 11:46 PM)grepper Wrote: I’ve found electrolysis works better than wire brushes or a wire wheel on a bench grinder, and it’s a lot less time consuming work too.  Additionally, electrolysis cleans and removes rust, grease, old loose paint and crud in every little nook and cranny, which can be a real pain with a wire brush.  It works very well on things like old chains that are almost impossible to clean with a brush.  It’s also cool because it’s restorative, and completely non destructive to the original surface.
 
Even though you don’t really need to, every so often it’s nice to make a clean batch of electrolyte cuz it gets kind of dirty and disgusting.  I just dump the old electrolyte out on the lawn and it won’t even kill the grass because it’s just washing soda soap (sodium carbonate) and water.  Way more “green” than rust removing chemicals.
 
The only downside I’ve found is that it won’t remove well adhered good condition paint, and sadly you lose the beautiful old rust patina.  Its odd how sometimes an old rusty patina is actually very beautiful and so easy on the eyes.
This sounds interesting, grepper! What electrical apparatus do you use for the electrolysis? I've got to try this...
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#14
Mark-  Yes, electrolysis works very well.  I wouldn’t be without a tank now.  Here’s another example of what it can do.
[Image: clipper1.PNG]
[Image: clipper2.PNG]
[Image: clipper3.PNG]
 
Making a tank is super simple.  You will need:
  1. Some sort of plastic tank.  I used a 5 gal bucket.
  2. One or more old lawn mower blades, rebar or other hunk(s) of metal or carbon gouging rods.  (More on this later).
  3. Car battery charger or some other power source.  I use a battery charger.
  4. Box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda.  Available everywhere, grocery store, hardware store, etc.  Cheap.
  5. Water.
[Image: images.jpg]

1.  Make electrolyte:  Fill the tank with water and add 1 tbsp washing soda per gallon of water.  Stir to dissolve.
2.  Hook the positive battery charger lead to one or more of the lawn mower blades (anode).  Suspend this somehow, anyway you can come up with into the tank.
3.  Hook the negative battery charger lead to the thing you want to clean. (cathode), and suspend it in the tank. I just put a piece of wood across the top of the bucket and hang the thing to be cleaned.  You can just lay it on the bottom, but then I’d rotate it around every so often so the part resting on the bottom was exposed to open electrolyte.

[Image: bucket.PNG]
[Image: bucket2.PNG]
 
Don’t let the anode and cathode touch each other.  That would short out your charger.
 
You are ready to go!  Plug in the charger and... RUN!  Get away as fast as you can!Bomb   Just kidding.  Not much will appear to happen, except for some slight bubbles and ripples around the part that rust is being removed from (cathode). 
 
Now just let it cook in the primordial soup.   Slight rust, 15-30 minutes.  Heavier rust, 1 – 6 hours.  The rustier it is, the longer it takes.  That sort of thing.  You’ll get the hang of it.
 
When it’s done the thing you are cleaning will be covered with gunk.  Scrub it off with a stiff bristle brush and soap and water.  It comes off easily. 
 
The metal is now bare and will start to flash rust right away.  Blow it dry with compressed air, a leaf blower or whatever.  Put it in an over, etc.  Anything to get it dry.  Then paint it, coat it in oil or whatever to keep it from rusting.
 
For the anode(s) I use carbon gouging rods because they avoid a rusty, foamy layer of crud forming on the surface of the electrolyte that happens with things like lawn mower blades.  Don’t use stainless steel for the anode.  That can cause chromium to leach into the electrolyte creating a highly toxic brew. 
 
Here’s the rusty crud film formed by using lawn mower blades.  It's actually quite beautiful.  Just way more gunky and messy than carbon in the bath from gouging rods.

[Image: bucket3.png]

You can make your tank as fancy or as simple as you wish.  It can be as simple as just wrapping the positive wire around the anode and the negative wire around the thing you want to clean.  More anodes are better than one.  I just use two, one on each side and it seems to work fine.  If you use more than one anode, just wire them together.
 
Let me know if you have any questions!  Let me know how it works for you and post some pics!

You can make the tank anyway you want.  Check it out:
http://tinyurl.com/jwfuwo7
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#15
Woah That is out of this world!! Oh my  gosh, Mr. grepper, Thank You So Much for this Outstanding reply! What a wonderfully well illustrated and written description!

I got a great snort out of "settin' 'er off"! Brilliantly played.  Big Grin

I could almost do this with my eyes closed now! You have no idea how thrilled I'm going to be to do this to two motorcycle gas tanks asap. 

I can't believe I don't know about this. I've got some studying to do.

One quick question- Why doesn't this remove scale?

Thanks again, grepper!
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#16
+1 for Grepper blowing Marks mind Smile
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#17
I use Evapo Rust or Metal Rescue myself.
Pete in San Ramon

925-548-6967
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#18
Mark, what do you mean by scale? Do you mean that varnish like glaze that coats the inside of carbs?  If so, you might want to soak it in some chemical to break that down before tanking it. 

I don't know if it will or not remove a good coat of varnish. It does not remove good paint, as it protects the surface from the electron flow and chemical reaction.  It seems to remove about everything else though.  Since the electrolyte is soap, it does a good job on grease.  But like I mentioned, once you wash the residue off with soap and water the metal is really clean and unprotected so flash rusting will happen quickly. Sometimes right before your eyes kind of quickly.  Get it dry and protected from humidity ASAP.

Apparently people use it often on motorcycle tanks:



http://tinyurl.com/ktzwgft

http://antique-engines.com/electrol.asp

How it works:

http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/reada..._363.shtml

http://antique-engines.com/electrol-details.asp

Here's a great read on the subject!  It proudly proclaims itself to be "The Most Detailed and Illustrated Tutorial On The Web!"

http://www.metaldetectingworld.com/elect...oval.shtml


If you search around you will find endless sites and examples of using electrolysis to remove rust, and as much info as you can stand from common descriptions of how/why it works to the actual chemistry of what's going on.

One thing:  Do it in a ventilated area as hydrogen gas can be a byproduct, which of course explodes like the proverbial Hindenburg!  It's not a huge issue; I just won't do it in the basement and then be lighting fires right around the tank.  Next time I do it I'll have throw some matches at it and see what happens!   Wacky   Probably not much.  

If you are cleaning the inside of a tank, it does leave surface residue that must be cleaned off.  A little research should answer any questions you have.  It's all over the 'Net.

Glad you enjoyed the post! Smile  Post your before and after pics!  It's usually quite impressive.
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