04-24-2017, 11:46 PM
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.
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.