Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Nelson
I meant to ask this question when you posted the photos, but better late than never.
What did you use as a power supply? I have an old trickle charger that I used to recharge my motorcycle battery each spring. Maybe that would work.
Those pieces looked so good after the electrolytic process was done, I'm wondering why you then went on to paint them. Did they still have pitting where rust used to be?
Phil Nelson
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That is exactly what I used, a 6-volt trickle charger; hooked the leads to a short length of wire attached to some super-cheap copper alligator clips (since they get destroyed in the process). I went ahead and primed and painted the pieces because I've found that even though the rust is removed/replaced, the 'aged' spots will quickly rust again with a vengeance. There was some pitting, but that was there before the process. Typically, whatever is present stays in place and will be replaced by the ferrous compounds. If the rust has left pits, it will remain pitted.
On an aside, years ago I found an 18th century toy gun outside of a castle in Rhineland-Pfalz. It was a rusted ball, that I thought was an actual gun. I worked on that thing for weeks, electro-bath, dental pick, again and again. After a few days, it was clean enough to recognize as a toy gun. Finally, I was able to free up the firing mechanism. I've been a believer in this process ever since.