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This definitely falls under the heading of "Kids do not try this at home"... Several years ago I was restoring a '45 Harley. There were parts that I had scavenged that were chromed. For my project, these needed to be painted. Some of them were already thin and pitted through the chrome and I did not want to risk more damage by sandblasting. I set up a unused glass fish tank (10 Gallon) in my shop and put in about 5 gallons of water. I added a quart of Muriatic Acid to it to turn it into a solution that would transfer electrons more efficiently (Electrolyte ). Then I used a 5 amp battery charger and hooked the Positive terminal to the part (creating an Anode) and the Negative terminal to a large flat piece of steel.(That’s called a Cathode) Upon powering the charger (you have to use DC Current) you could literally watch the chrome come off of the part and collect on the plate. Of course, it pitted nicely from the rusty areas first and then the clean chrome followed as it was following the current to the plate. Afterwards a little gentle brass wire wheel cleaning, some body filler here and there, and I workable parts. It is understood that there are many dangers doing this, i.e. ventilation, full face protection, rubber gloves, copious amounts of fresh water available for rinsing, baking soda to neutralize spills etc. After you are done dissolving as much PH increase from a swimming pool supplier (Wal-Mart, ‘bout a buck a pound) that you can dissolve into the solution will render it environmentally friendly enough for disposal through evaporation. -Packrat
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