First electrolysis

MAD Mitch

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I found a badly rusted padlock a few weeks ago in the backyard and I decided to try electrolysis on it just to see how much rust I could get off of it. I took an elongated plastic container, a piece of rebar, and my battery charger to use for the process. I got some washing soda from Amazon (can’t find it around here) and mixed maybe a cup and a half of it with the water. I set the charger to 2 amps and it sat there for a couple of days (except when I was work yesterday). This was really more about getting experience with electrolysis than an actual restore. The lock is in pretty rough shape.
 

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Looks like a good start. I find better results when you can get that sacrificial iron around the item you want to restore. Either get more of it in the water, set up multiple ones around the tub, or use a bucket like I have in the link below. Just remember with the bucket you need to suspend the item in the middle since the whole bucket is energized. Still a good start though, I love dropping things in my tank!


https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=282366
 
Looks like a good start. I find better results when you can get that sacrificial iron around the item you want to restore. Either get more of it in the water, set up multiple ones around the tub, or use a bucket like I have in the link below. Just remember with the bucket you need to suspend the item in the middle since the whole bucket is energized. Still a good start though, I love dropping things in my tank!


https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=282366

Nice setup you have. My setup is just something I just threw together on short notice. I felt like a kid again working on a science project, lol. I did notice it could have worked better if the rebar had been bent into an L shape so more of it would be under the water. Thanks for the ideas!
 
Thanks, anytime anyone wants to get into it I enjoy helping. I haven't had anything in mine for a while (woods are too grown in to find stuff). But it is fun!
 
I found a badly rusted padlock a few weeks ago in the backyard and I decided to try electrolysis on it just to see how much rust I could get off of it. I took an elongated plastic container, a piece of rebar, and my battery charger to use for the process. I got some washing soda from Amazon (can’t find it around here) and mixed maybe a cup and a half of it with the water. I set the charger to 2 amps and it sat there for a couple of days (except when I was work yesterday). This was really more about getting experience with electrolysis than an actual restore. The lock is in pretty rough shape.

In the picture of your liquid solution it looks like your positive lead is on the item you are cleaning. You want the ground on the item you are cleaning so it does not destroy it.
 
I forgot to mention I love the padlock. I have never found an iron one that is still on my list.
 
In the picture of your liquid solution it looks like your positive lead is on the item you are cleaning. You want the ground on the item you are cleaning so it does not destroy it.

I had realized that later and switched them around. I must have took the pic before then.
 
I’d be interested to hear what you all are using for your electrolysis. I rigged something up using a spare 12v power supply I had laying around initially. It worked great, but I had one coin come out with a chunk burned off of the side. I couldn’t be sure if that was from the electrolysis or from corrosion (it had been pretty caked). I just bought an Ugly Box to give me a bit more control, but I’m not seeing the same results with the 9v battery (reading about 6.5v-8v normally) as I was with the 12v.

Also, do you ever find that your treated items come out completely black? Whenever I use electrolysis on coins, they come out completely black and have to be buffed with baking soda to get them back to shiny. Even then, most of my silver that I have tried ends up slightly orange.
 
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