When I posted a knife pic in "show and tell" I thought it might be a candidate for rust removal by electrolysis. I didn't have the materials to build a big unit like Ron showed on his video, so I downsized to items I had at home. Used a plastic coffee can for the vat and large nails as anodes. Didn't have coated wire either so I carefully used bare copper wire. It didn't take more than 20 minutes to do the whole thing and it worked great. Started bubbling immediately and within a few minutes I could see rust particles moving from the knife to the nails. Cleaned up pretty good considering the amount of rust. Washing soda in water constitutes the electrolyte solution. If you choose to make a small one like this, watch that the anodes and rusted item don't touch in the small confines and that you don't over tax your charger. I did this outside on a GFI circuit.
Oh my lanta. That is a great transformation! That's awesome. I'd love to make one. 99.9% of my finds are untouched and uncleaned. Everything... To scared to mess with anything. But I'd like something for rusted objects and such. Pretty awesome. Keep up the great work!
Cool BEANS Man!! Oil that baby up and carry her!!! Those Schrade cold steel blades you can sharpen to a razors edge!
Nice setup on the electrolysis bath!
Ed
I agree , oil that puppy up , give it a nice edge and you've got a great pocket knife there.
It looks like your scaled down electrolysis system worked like a champ , great job .
Thanks for sharing it with us.
Pat
Nice job cleaning it up. Your setup seemed to work well, and is at a convenient size.
That's damn good work, Shade. I never tried building a larger type electrolysis unit, only the small size that fits in a mason jar, or something similar.
I'll tell you what though, it works great on some of the older, corroded coppers where cleaning isn't going to harm them or any potential value. I've had copper coins that were barely identifiable, and after a fizzle bath they came out looking nice and pretty.
Knife looks brand new now
Joe