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I'll give you my unsolicited thoughts. I too used this process in a very similar manner. The only difference is that I was told the copper wire should not touch the water. I don't know why or if that is even really required, but I think that it has something to do with the possibility of creating a toxic byproduct. I really don't know.Electrolysis on the Stanley No. 62
I always wanted to try electrolysis rust removal and it is just as simple and effective as they claim.
Note: This is not a full tutorial on electrolysis. You must research the many other resources on the internet before attempting this your self. IT CAN BE DEADLY AND ILLEGAL IF DONE WRONG.
This is the old Stanley No. 62 low angle jack plane that needed to be de-rusted:
Here it is in pieces:
And here are a couple "before" photos of the body:
Here's my electrolysis bucket set-up. Six pieces of rebar are secured to the top edge of the bucket with bailing wire and then connected with copper wire to form one continuous sacrificial electrode.
"Washing Soda" was the stuff they said to mix into the water as an electrolyte:
The plane parts are suspended from copper wire which gets connected together on top:
And wa-lah:
When its working right you should see millions of tiny hydrogen bubbles rising from the tool (its hard to tell in this photo)...
When it first comes out it looks pretty bad. It makes you wonder if you did something backwards because your tools will be covered in a thick rust sludge:
But after some scrubbing with steel wool it starts to look pretty good:
And here is the final result:
One side had some pitting but the rest looked ok:
The sole was in excellent condition:
I still need to sharpen the blade, lap the sole, and repair the knob and tote.
Anyway, I did notice one thing. It seemed that after a quick bath, it loosens up the rust significantly. A quick scrub with a brass brush takes a lot of rust off fast and then you just rinse it in water and put it back in a again. In theory, it shoudl get rid of ALL the rust. evaporust is good, but so is electrolysis and it should be able to get every last bit off. Great photos. You've got a real beauty there.