Electrolysis rust removal

[osage outlaw]

Would that process work putting a coating of another metal like copper or stainless steel over the cast iron? I'm not suggesting you would want to recoat a skillet.

WA

I'm not sure.  I didn't look into any processes like that.

[osage outlaw]

Carefull when doing that Clint. You are making hydrogen gas with that process. Big boom!

I'm doing it in the garage with all of the doors open.  I get a good breeze through there. 

[osage outlaw]

I've got a flat griddle and an axe head soaking now.  I'm going to do a larger skillet and a rasp later today.  I'll post some before and after pictures of them. 

[bjrogg]

Would be great if you could clean up rasp like that. Really curious about rusty bolts. Wondering if you could put some rusty stuff  you couldn't get apart in there  and have it come out fairly clean?
Bjrogg

[osage outlaw]

I don't know BJ.  I've got a rusted farriers rasp ready to soak as soon as I take the first batch out.

[Parnell]

That's very cool, Clint!

[DC]

That does a real nice job. Looks like new. Be interesting to see if it sharpens the rasp.
We used to copper plate stuff when I was a kid. We would find "spilled" copper sulphate at the net loft and make a solution of that. Hang a piece of copper on one electrode and whatever we wanted plated on the other. Can't remember the polarity. I think we used my train transformer for power. It worked reasonably well but I don't think it would stand up to much use.

[Pat B]

Now, that is a cool process. Nice, Clint. With the hydrogen off gassing you could build a blimp too....like the Hindenburg. 

[Stringman]

Or some interactive targets for the next riflemans challenge. 

[Danzn Bar]

He doesn't need any more ideas...Scott!..lol
DBar

[Stringman]

... or the 3D shoot at Marshall! Good call Bill! Try focusing on the kill zone with that thought in your mind! 

[bubby]

Bill will be trying to focus thinking about steel barrels

[Gsulfridge]

I told you it was addicting Clint.  There goes all my cast iron picking in Indiana, Cincinnati, and northern Kentucky.  You'll have a nice collection before you know it.  Let us know how the axe turns out and especially the rasp.

[Aaron H]

Nice, I made one of those a few years ago when I was restoring an old truck, works great.

Yeah, be sure to let us know how the rasp turns out too

[osage outlaw]

Test run #2 was an ax that was in rough shape and a rusty griddle that had a very thick layer of seasoning on it.




I took them out after 3 hours and the axe looked great.  Most of the griddle was clean except for the thick area of seasoning.  I scraped on it some and put it back in to soak for a couple more hours.  I also put in a farriers rasp.  I didn't get a before picture of the rasp but it was covered in rust.  When I took them out of the water I hit them with a wire brush to knock of the loose rust. I dried them off and gave them a coat of WD-40.  I have tried soaking them in vinegar before and this works much better at removing the rust.  Here is what the ax and rasp looked like after the soak.  The rasp looks brand new.










The griddle still had some seasoning stuck to the rough surface.  I scraped the rest of it off and hit it with the scouring wheel and steel wool.