# Rust removal by electrolysis



## Woodchips2 (21 Mar 2021)

Dominic Chimea from The Repair Shop has just posted a video on YouTube  showing how to use electrolysis to remove rust from tools using a car battery charger. 
Regards Keith


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## MARK.B. (21 Mar 2021)

Cheap-easy and very effective


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## Stuart Moffat (22 Mar 2021)

This method of rust removal has worked for me many times. Not everyone will be aware that Washing soda is actually Sodium Carbonate and is cheaper than chips at most supermarkets. Morrisons sell 1kg bags for 69p and you don't need half that much to do the equivalent of Doms hammer and file. The great thing is you can find plastic tubs big and small to do almost anything. I once did a sympathetic repair of a friends 'treasured' singer sewing machine that had been in the family all its life or over 100 years. All the veneer had delaminate and the metalwork had rusted everywhere the biggest part was the heavy treddle frame, but the small metal parts that you see externally, e.g. bobbin winder and needle holders etc had seized with rust. The intrenal mechanics were fine as covered in old graze and oil. Electrolysis was kind. For some things more delicate than a hammer you should wash the liquid off quickly and oil it as it can very quickly start to reoxidise... Whilst you watch. For something like the hammer or file I would problem only bother with one anode... and turn the hammer over after the first hour.. If using a battery charger you can move the item closer or further from the anode to control the speed of action (but fast is fine for a hammer!) But be warned, you may then think, well this is so easy, how much harder can it be to do plating! In which case you may want a regulated power supply, and the chemistry is a bit more hazardous.


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## AES (27 Mar 2021)

+1 IME, electrolytic de-rusting works VERY well, is easy to set up & has minimum cost & is safe.


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## D_W (27 Mar 2021)

One of the interesting things on youtube is how folks will post videos that are probably covered 300 times already. And youtube will prioritize the new ones as if it's something new. 

I don't know how long this process has been used by hobbyists widely, but at least as long as the mail lists for old tools have gone around. In the states, it was heavily used when I started long after that (2005 or so) and I did it like everyone else does (of course, it works - I used a battery charger on trickle instead of a car battery). It seems to have fallen a little out of fashion in the US as the overcleaning and etching of tools is seen as a bit more garish (at the time, collectors decried the gray etch or any bright metal on an old plane that wasn't still bright from being stored carefully). Back then, if you restored a stanley plane and re-japanned it (I didn't do this, but saw it), you could get twice as much as a good plane with patina on the cheeks (let alone rust - rusty planes would sell cheap even on ebay). Times have changed, but youtube serves me plenty of over the top "restoration" videos. I guess that's the in thing now. 

If you could divide youtube into gimmicks, the restoration gimmick is of the "Something for nothing" type, the same as the types where people build bandsaws out of plywood or make water turbines from scrap material.


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## Rorschach (27 Mar 2021)

I like electrolysis for big items as the ingredients and equipment are so cheap and it's easy to keep and eye on the process. For small items though it is a hassle. For small items I much prefer citric acid, also very cheap and easy.


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## thick_mike (27 Mar 2021)

I use an old phone charger as a power supply, much cheaper and easier to get hold of than a battery charger


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## D_W (27 Mar 2021)

Rorschach said:


> I like electrolysis for big items as the ingredients and equipment are so cheap and it's easy to keep and eye on the process. For small items though it is a hassle. For small items I much prefer citric acid, also very cheap and easy.



Plus, once you have the washing soda, you may actually end up making laundry soap with it. I haven't done electrolysis in over a decade, but I'm fairly sure my wife used all of the washing soda making liquid laundry soap. No "too old" vegetable fat goes to waste around here when lye is available mail order for a couple of dollars a pound.


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## Fergie 307 (28 Mar 2021)

Rorschach said:


> I like electrolysis for big items as the ingredients and equipment are so cheap and it's easy to keep and eye on the process. For small items though it is a hassle. For small items I much prefer citric acid, also very cheap and easy.


Never tried citric acid, I always use phosphoric. Does a great job but leaves a thin black deposit behind, surprisingly good at stopping further rust, and easy enough to remove if you intend to paint it. I assume citric probably takes longer, what sort of finish does it leave?


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## Fergie 307 (28 Mar 2021)

D_W said:


> One of the interesting things on youtube is how folks will post videos that are probably covered 300 times already. And youtube will prioritize the new ones as if it's something new.
> 
> I don't know how long this process has been used by hobbyists widely, but at least as long as the mail lists for old tools have gone around. In the states, it was heavily used when I started long after that (2005 or so) and I did it like everyone else does (of course, it works - I used a battery charger on trickle instead of a car battery). It seems to have fallen a little out of fashion in the US as the overcleaning and etching of tools is seen as a bit more garish (at the time, collectors decried the gray etch or any bright metal on an old plane that wasn't still bright from being stored carefully). Back then, if you restored a stanley plane and re-japanned it (I didn't do this, but saw it), you could get twice as much as a good plane with patina on the cheeks (let alone rust - rusty planes would sell cheap even on ebay). Times have changed, but youtube serves me plenty of over the top "restoration" videos. I guess that's the in thing now.
> 
> If you could divide youtube into gimmicks, the restoration gimmick is of the "Something for nothing" type, the same as the types where people build bandsaws out of plywood or make water turbines from scrap material.


Couldn't agree more. Lost count of how many videos I have seen about acid blueing on guns. Only been done for about 400 years plus.


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## Rorschach (28 Mar 2021)

Citric is pretty fast if you use it with hot water. Leaves a flat grey finish. I always neutralise, spray with Wd40 and then if possible dry it with a heat gun. Rust doesn't seem to be an issue later on but I suspect phosphoric is better in that regard.

Where I think citric is better is that unlike phosphoric there is much less buildup so you don't need to scrub it as much unless the rust is very heavy. Phosphoric just tends to sit on the surface as it converts rather than dissolves the rust.


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## D_W (28 Mar 2021)

Fergie 307 said:


> Couldn't agree more. Lost count of how many videos I have seen about acid blueing on guns. Only been done for about 400 years plus.



Kind of the gimmick for youtube. Around 2007 or so (earliest videos I can remember seeing were around 2005 or 2006), people would just turn on a DVD or worse resolution camera and share stuff that you really hadn't seen before. Some were weirdos, some weren't. 

Of the large youtube woodworking channels (which I usually end up telling youtube not to suggest), I can remember when a lot of them started and the presenters were pretty much chipping the edges of plywood at best, but had signs made for their shop. All that's followed is videos that were already seen before, amazon links, patreon, ebegging or whatever. The really high quality unique stuff (like curtis buchanan putting up a video that's more or less a summary of decades of experience, and then showing the making of something fine) isn't often shown, and when you look at views, if April Wilkerson gets a new triton tool and makes a bin, she'll get 20x the views that curtis buchanan's videos will get over 5 years. The point of the entire channel is just to draw more money from every direction and the content is secondary. And the presenters get very offended if that's ever brought up. (this has been the setup on TV for eons - it's just a bit jarring when someone comes out of the woodwork, so to speak, and is obviously struggling to do anything when they first start and they are balls to the wall on farming the viewers while peddling the "we're all friends" gimmick). 

George Wilson reminded me at one point when I said the woodwrights shop had me glued to it when I was a kid, but I find I can hardly pay attention to it now because while it shows genuine stuff, it's more entertainment. He said something along the lines of the money in media never being for the people who want to do something, but rather for folks who perpetually want to imagine they could do something. "oh, i remember seeing this before, I"m going to watch it again. I could probably do it sometime". 

I'm sure he's right. 

got a little far off track here - not all of that is present in the video above, but from the view of someone who is looking for new things to mention, etc, if that was the MO of most, there wouldn't be many new videos. The new ones are good for youtube, though, as cross data collection and advertising always works on the new folks. A person watching someone carve who has already had their carving tools for 20 years is probably not going to be a very good advertising target.


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