electrode material for electrolytic derusting?

I use cheap Rebar most of the time. Lead probably would work but might create problem in the solution. DO NOT use Stainless unless you want to make toxic waste.

I have had good sucess using rebar from Home Depot in a plastic container using a battery charger rated for 10 amps max. You can also use a car battery if your charger is one of the new kinds that won't work unless it is connected to a battery. Tie the bars to each other using the iron wire you find in the same spot at Home Depot for tieing rebar together. I made a grid structure and put it into the bottom of a plastic tub. I ran an iron wire from each cross member to the lip of the tub and twisted them together to connect as many segments as possible to ensure they were all electrically connected. For odd shape pieces you can make a wood box and line it with plastic. Plastic sewer pipe or garbage cans also work. Suspend the rusted article by a few more wires and hang them so they don't touch the grid. The side facing the grid will have the most action as the current flows in a direct line of sight. If the piece is heavily rusted try connecting several wires and mechanically scraping a few clean spots. Oil and dirt doesn't seem to affect the process just makes it gunky. The anode is the positive terminal connected to the rebar and the cathode is the negative lead connected to rusted work piece. The electrolyte is three table spoons of washing soda (not baking soda) per gallon of water. More is not any more effective so stay with three tbsp per gallon. Connect it up and measure the amps if you have a meter. Current should be about 5 to 7 amps. If it is higher, add more water to dilute the electrolyte or move the rusted piece further from the anode. Hope this helps. If you need more info check out

Grant Erwin wrote:

I used mild steel scrap and a 5 gal plastic bucket.

Nice web site. By the way, electrolytically derusting that trailer frame used approximately the amount of electricity that my Dallas home consumes over a three-week span! Did you notice it on your bill that month?

Mart> I have had good sucess using rebar from Home Depot in a plastic

I *know* I can use mild steel for the cathode. I also know I can use graphite. What I want to know is if I can use sheet lead. I guess I'll just have to give it a shot if nobody has any informed opinions on the matter ..

GWE

SS contains Chromium; makes the solution yellow in color, will have Erin Brockovich down your throat, to say nothing of your neighbors... Hexavalent, I think, is the operative term... / mark

Grant Erw> I'm about to venture into a bunch of electrolytic derusting again. I was

I have used sheet lead. I'm not sure whether or not I ended up with some lead carbonate forming from the washing soda solution. It seemed to work very well.

Mark Rand RTFM

Why would you want to?

Well, I have some, and if it makes the solution stay nonrusty, then that's why.

GWE

Yes, I've done it, no probs encountered. Sheet lead provides large surface area. It's easy to source, fit (bend over the straight rim of container at top), replace.

"Grant Erwin" (clip)DISCLAIMER: I have *always* gotten cathode/anode terminology mixed up.(clip)blame my 7th grade science teacher, who confused me more or less permanently. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ My science teacher made up for it by giving me a device that I will never forget: picture the face of a cat, with plus signs for eyes. Cations are positive.

Another teacher (high school) taught me to spell "rhythm." It's spelled AR-h-y TEE-h-m. Waltz time.

Good teachers live on. Anyone else got examples?

Your example suggests a corellary that I somehow don't recall from high school: picture a person (either gender) bent over grabbing ankles with a + at the pucker: ANode is positive.

Cations? Do they emanate from the cathode? No. That's the same crapola that has kept me confused for about for friggin ever. I just remember it this way now: the word cathode has the letter 't' which has a plus sign in it, and this whole thing is so screwed up you're supposed to somehow associate that with electrons.

No kidding, that's how I remember it.

Cations, rations, flatirons .. ukk

GWE

I just remember this nonsense phrase "anox catred": Anode-Oxidation, Cathode-Reduction.