found iron object - electrolysis - before/after

[mickael]

I found an iron object - then did an electrolysis cleaning with a battery charger and bicarbonate soda

 

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[RestoringYourFinds]

Very nice job !!!

 

[RelicHunter97]

Wow, that came out beautifully! I wonder what it went to!

 

[I-DIG-IT]

Nice digs.

 

[Limitool]

Good job buddy.... I made a nice electrolysis setup this summer using a battery charger also. And I also used the soda. But when I switched over to using salt it worked even better...

Now I was doing some real nasty looking horseshoes just experimenting but found salt worked better. No idea why. My setup utilizes a 5 gallon plastic bucket (4 gals. water used) and I put about 1 tablespoon in or maybe a tad more. But yours looks great!!!!!

 

[mickael]

Good job buddy.... I made a nice electrolysis setup this summer using a battery charger also. And I also used the soda. But when I switched over to using salt it worked even better...

Now I was doing some real nasty looking horseshoes just experimenting but found salt worked better. No idea why. My setup utilizes a 5 gallon plastic bucket (4 gals. water used) and I put about 1 tablespoon in or maybe a tad more. But yours looks great!!!!!

there are different substances you can add to increase the conductivity of the water
... I have also used sea salt with success, I added a liberal amount to the water, there is no real science here since it's iron and there is little risk of damaging the object

the problem comes when you use electrolysis of objects of value, coins etc...

ex: I have a "silver" coin from 1555
on close examination I found the coin was somehow struck with
a mixed metal in the interior and a thick silver leaf exterior

sort of a official counterfeit coin

the electrolysis would have destroyed it
this is also true for Napoleon III coins

electrolysis pits them

 

[Limitool]

michael.... Is sea salt better or does something else besides regular table salt? Now the first horseshoe I did came out clean. The next the rust fell off and fell off but I never got to good iron. Probably because there isn't any... right? Probably a much older shoe? I'm still learning.

 

[Hendo0601]

Are you using a car battery charger or a phone charger? I have a phone charger setup cooking a horseshoe I found yesterday, and I'm using salt and a few squirts of lemon juice. It takes a while but it's working !

 

[Higgy]

I'm a custom knifemaker by trade. What I use, and many of my colleagues use, is TSP - trisodiumphosphate. You can buy it in the hardware store. Factually, I use it in a solution of distilled water for anodizing titanium used in my knives. Titanium alloys used in manufacturing all have a small of aluminum and vanadium mixed in to add some degree of machinability without sacrificing toughness. The alloy I use most is 6AL4V, which is 6% aluminum and 4% vanadium. The rest is titaniium and a couple other trace elements.

What I am getting here is that I like it. Salt is corrosive. TSP is not as corrosive, yet it IS a salt of somekind. Thing is, I have never had any problem with corrosion or leaching salts from the electrolyte container or anything like that. I mean makes sense because TSP is sold as a cleaner for decks and siding and such. So I am thinking that it may be a worthwhile experiment on silver or maybe silverplate? Next silver I dig will probably get this treatment. If anyone tries this. give us a holler and tell us your findings!

 

[dirtlooter]

looks great, electrolysis is a tool that can be very handy to use and get really great results but like most tools, isn't always the way to go on all projects.

 

[unclemac]

can you direct me to a really good site on how to set one up? or a good video?

 

[mickael]

for iron relics

you need:

car battery charger
plastic container - ex: 1 gal. paint bucket
bicarbonate soda or sea salt

add a tbl spoon or more of bicarbonate soda or salt to water

connect battery charger

negative to relic
positive to anode

there are different many ways of connecting

I just tested using stainless steel (fork and spoon) with success

I bent the forks teeth inward to to pinch the relic and the spoon to the anode on the opposite side of the container...

also important is the negative contact needs to be touching the iron (not rust)... so you need to clean/scrap/file the contact area or it wont work

you will know it is working when after about 10/15 min the relic will be fizzing slightly

 

[Roman Hunter]

Nice good job !!!

 

[NJSouth]

Great find and great clean up!! Hey Mickael.... once everything is hooked up its then immersed into the water and the charger then plugged in?? Hope its not a stupid question, I like to get the steps right...lol. And this is ONLY for Iron relics??

 

[Darrow]

Really awesome how you took the pictures of each stage of cleaning for us to see the progression, any idea what it came off of?

 

[MuckyBottles]

I do a quick soak in hydrofluoric acid for heavily encrusted iron such as horseshoes. Then for the "Bundy" bath I always use two table spoons of sea salt, on tablespoon of baking soda and half cup of lemon juice.

 

[Hendo0601]

My setup is much smaller as I'm just using an old phone charger and a pair of stainless steel hair clip thingies I "borrowed" from my wife. For my sacrificial annode in first used a junk stainless ikea spoon I found in the drawer but it disintegrated pretty quickly, now I'm using a fork I found in the river while detecting. I'm using a medium size plastic Tupper ware bowl and I don't measure the salt or lemon juice in just dump it in and stir it up. Works really well on small/medium items. If you search the forums you will find tons of posts and videos on how to set up your own system, that's what I did.

 

[jewelerguy]

cool

 

[unclemac]

how about corrosion form things found in the sea

 

[mickael]

Great find and great clean up!! Hey Mickael.... once everything is hooked up its then immersed into the water and the charger then plugged in?? Hope its not a stupid question, I like to get the steps right...lol. And this is ONLY for Iron relics??

yes just plug it in .. no worries

Really awesome how you took the pictures of each stage of cleaning for us to see the progression, any idea what it came off of?

I was hoping someone here would be able to ID it .. I have no idea except ornamental

how about corrosion form things found in the sea

I 1st read about using electrolysis years ago to clean cannons found in the ocean

I do a quick soak in hydrofluoric acid for heavily encrusted iron such as horseshoes. Then for the "Bundy" bath I always use two table spoons of sea salt, on tablespoon of baking soda and half cup of lemon juice.

that sounds like a good setup

cheers