More beach finds tonight, question about using electrolysis?

[1869er]

Went out again tonight for a little beach hunting... 4 hours flew by. Found the items listed below...

Pile of clad
Nice silver chain ~ 925 Italy
Mystery item? Needs to be cleaned.
A Dinner knife ~ handle might be silver or silver plated.

The old silver chain was nice to find... Broken clasp, probably from when it was lost.. Interesting designer marking, 925 Italy. Also a mystery item, guitar pick shaped, could be a badge of some sort, like from a bicycle... I chipped off an edge of the crustiness, not sure but it looks like it's plated with a shiny metal... It's probably junk, however.... What's the easiest way to do electrolysis to clean up items like this?? Can I just use salt in water and connect this item to the positive pole of say 9v dc?

 

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[1869er]

I was thinking about that item, I bet it's just a fishing lure.

 

[stevemc]

Dont use table salt-sodium chloride, use washing soda-sodium carbonate, you can buy it at the supermarket where clothes detergents are as washing soda. What electrolysis is mainly used for is to get salt out, so why use salt? It is also corrosive, sodium carbonate isnt. Do not use sodium bicarbonate-baking soda, it is not as good as sodium carbonate. Any metal salt will make an electrolyte, but dont use table salt. And whatever you use, electrolysis, acid, always rinse well. Also use a switchable power supply. The small cell phone chargers are not switchable, and will burn out quickly. It also isnt safe to use them, could catch on fire, you are basicly shorting out the unit. I have seen people using a 9 volt battery, could work, but ideally you want to tune the rate of electrolysis, so that it is just a gentle fizz on the item. Every size item will need a different current. Start low and work up slowly until you see a fizz, and dirt falling off. Too high of a current will eat into metals, most metals will get pitted quickly with too much current. You also should turn flat items to expose the far side toward the anode after some time. You will notice that the closer side starts fizzing and the other side doesnt. So turn it. Muratic acid also works well on known copper, or silver, and of course gold, it does not dissolve those, but unknown metals should not be cleaned in acid, as it can eat some like zinc, and other lower nobility metals. Get that at pool stores. For acid cleaning, I recomend using 1/2 muratic acid, and 1/2 water. You dont want to go too fast, just gentle cleaning. Leave in for a few minutes and watch it, then remove and see if it is OK. Rinse and check it out. If silver or copper, it will be fine, and corrosion will come off, usually takes a while if heavy. Wear rubber gloves and eye protection.

 

[snooksion]

looks like a part of a lure.the "spinner"part

 

[1869er]

Thanks for the info on using electrolysis Stevemc.....

I broke away most of the build up from the years in the ocean, without using electrolysis... Turns out this item probably isn't a spinner from a lure, however it may be.... Looks more like a silver plated cheap jewelry dangle.