ELECTROLYSIS ON MY COLONIAL SPUR & BUCKLE

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

Was on the phone with a freind Dan (Del) and after him suggesting I electrolysis the iron spur with spur buckle fused to it,I decided to break out my adapter from the cabinet and hook it up.It's boiling as I type.changed the dirty water & snapped a few pics.now it's back in sizzling.

before & during pics

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

all done.I'm not a pro at this but looks a little bit better

[Imnengr]

May I ask what you use as a power supply? Looks like it is working!

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

May I ask what you use as a power supply? Looks like it is working!

I used a 9volt ac adapter but it just burnt out doing a hand forged key

[hammered]

Nicely done sir, nicely done


hammered

[Imnengr]

May I ask what you use as a power supply? Looks like it is working!

I used a 9volt ac adapter but it just burnt out doing a hand forged key

Yeah, same thing happened to me. I'm sure there are recommendations for a better setup on this site somewhere.

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Nice job on the electrolysis Dave!
One day I'll have to get up the nerve to try it too!

Dave

[zaxfire69]

That will get it done quickly. That is my monster.

[Old Stonewall]

That will get it done quickly. That is my monster.

Looks kinda like an execution chamber.

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

That will get it done quickly. That is my monster.

whoa! that set up wouldn't reduce this spur to a wet pile of rust in the bottom of 5 gallon pail?

[Gunrunner61]

Great job on the Electrolysis...And a great looking spur.

[JerV3]

Great finds this yr man.

Your area must be really rich with old foundations. You guys do a great job tracking them down

HH Jer

[johnnyblaze]

Looks good Dave

I use my car battery charger..


Blaze

[zaxfire69]

That setup will strip an axe head in about 12 hours. It is serious. I call it the Flux capacitor. Great job on your finds friend. I would be nervous to clean something that delicate.

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

HMN, remember a little while ago we spoke about doing buckles that still had the iron bits in them...well I tried it on a copper coin with a nice green patina, like my buckle has. I used a low power unit, and as I suspected in a short time the patina was gone from the coin. So I will not be using electrolysis on any nice copper/brass/bronze finds.

I also used a car batt. charger on a larger iron item, it cooked for hours. the water gets pretty disgusting.

[gleaner1]

Go low and slow with iron electrolysis.

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

HMN, remember a little while ago we spoke about doing buckles that still had the iron bits in them...well I tried it on a copper coin with a nice green patina, like my buckle has. I used a low power unit, and as I suspected in a short time the patina was gone from the coin. So I will not be using electrolysis on any nice copper/brass/bronze finds.

I also used a car batt. charger on a larger iron item, it cooked for hours. the water gets pretty disgusting.

why didn't you try it on the buckle? never a copper coin! i found that out on a old crappy IH.hope that caopper coin wasn't a decent one

[Breezie]

Looking guuuuud Dave! Breezie

[Irregular]

Do you just have your lead colors inverted, or do you actually have your positive lead going to the spur? Copied from Andrew Wescott's site on electrolysis:

"When the time comes to connect up, observe the correct polarity - the piece to be cleaned MUST be connected to the negative terminal. It is vital that the electrodes are connected the correct way round, as failure to do this right will result in the gradual destruction of the piece."

That squares with everything else I've read and understood. I didn't know if this was an oversight or under control.