Tried Electrolytic Rust Removal! IT WORKS!

I thought this was voodoo or something the witch doctor would come up with, but it sounded simple, I had the material laying around, and I was getting tired of grinding the rust off this old sickle bar mower I'm working on. Put in a old skid plate last night (1/4" thick, a foot long, 6" wide, SOLID with rust), hooked everything up, watched it sizzle for a while, went to bed.

This morning, pulled it out, and 3/4 of the rust sloughed off when I brushed it with my hand! By this afternoon, it should be all done! This is fantastic! Now it doesn't restore the part, it's still pitted and looks old. But it does remove all the oxygen from the iron oxide, and make it easy to wash off, dry, prime and paint. Saves a heckuva lotta work!

I used a 30-gal PLASTIC trash can, 10 gals of water, 10 tablespoons of lye, stir, drop in a large bar of stainless steel I had laying around with the positive terminal of my battery charger clipped on at the top, out of the water. Used a 4' piece of electrical cord, both ends stripped, C-clamped one end to a shiny spot on the old skid plate (gotta have good contact), dropped it in near but not touching the stainless. Hook up the negative terminal to the other end of the wire (again, out of the water), turn on the charger, walk away. The whole thing takes less time to do than to write about.

Progress report to follow.

It does work great, here is a link to a site on the subject

• Electrolysis Made Easy

I have a question though. Where did you find lye? I have looked all over and can't find it. I've tried lumber yards like Home Depot and basically get that deer in the headlights look when I ask someone about it.

I have used Bicarbonate of Soda before, too, but it's not nearly as reactive. But it's all I had.

And the black oxide that forms is mostly magnetite, and some pure Fe powder, and can be wiped off with "Metal-Prep" or Phosphoric acid and Methanol, or a mixture of Naval Jelly and rubbing alcohol.

Also, to keep the clean surface from rusting immediately, consider drying it in an inert bath. I have (for other reasons) rigged up a bucket with a hose and purged it with nitrogen from a welding bottle. Drying your parts in there will keep it from forming a new red coat of rust on the fresh metal.

Your mileage may be identical.

You should be able to use potassium hydroxide, too, but that may be more exciting.