electrolysis on an iron buckle

[funkman]

I'm currently zapping an iron object that looks like it might have been some sort of buckle. I only had a 9volt dc 500ma adapter but here are thepics so far as of 10 minutes. I had it cooking before and the water was brown so some stuff came off but these pics are after water was changed. The bubbles are coming off the relic but not as much as I thought they should. Is this because the low output (9vdc)? They are primarily coming off at the point where it is attached to the clip. I ground the corner of the relic down tio make sure I got to bare metal before doing this.

I also have a car battery charger that does 6 volt or 12 colt dc output. COuld I use this or would I risk destroying the charger? Has anyone else used car battery chargers and if so should I do it at 6 volts or 12 volts? I also assume that the black cable gets clamped to teh relic and the red gets the spoon or sawblade or whatever. Is this correct? How long should it be zapping if using this charger?

Thanks and I will take another pics after it has cooked for a little.

Funkman

[funkman]

here are the pics of it after another 40 minutes of zapping. I noticed not much discolorization of the water this time. Why would that be. There is more rust there.

Also here are before and after pics of the relic so far.

[Jeff of NH]

It is safe to use a battery charger. I put salt in the water and lemon juice, if nothing else the lemon juice makes things smell better while its cooking. My charger even has a "boost" on it. That works too, just makes it cook faster. Some things take longer to cook than others it depends on how old and corroded they are. Remember, be careful with old valueable corroded "stuff". You can actually dissolve it if it is too far gone. Hope this helps. Jeff of NH

[James57]

I've used a car battery charger on iron relics. The one that I used is 2 or 3 Amps. I used a generous amount of baking soda in the water. It seems to leave a black film on the iron which protects it from rusting again. The black does not rub off but fine emery cloth will remove it. The black gives the relic a nice 'antique' appearance.

[BuckleBoy]

Yes, you can use a car battery charger, but it MUST be analog. The digital ones control the flow of electricity so they don't overcharge the battery. Once they sense resistance, they start trickle charging. This is NOT what you'll want.

-Buckleboy