Electrolysis works on rust and paint removal

[brothers]

I've got a new home made rust remover, and it works great on razors and other rusty steel. Like everybody else, I've been disappointed with chemicals. I found an article about a way to make the rust part company with the bare steel.

I bought a small battery charger at Harbor Freight for about $50. I take a plastic storage tub or dishpan and fill it with water, to which I've added 1 heaping tablespoon of Baking Soda per gallon of water. Then I hook the black lead to the razor and the red lead to a stainless steel anode (I started out using big stainless steel serving spoons from the dollar store, but recently I remembered I have a great big honking SS bowl --- looks like it used to be something a church would use for the offering or in serving communion. That old bowl makes a great anode, lots of surface area makes for good flow of electricity.

Anyway, it doesnt' hurt the black lead if it gets in the water, but the red lead should not be in the water. I turn the battery charger on to the highest setting and leave it alone for as many hours or even a day or two. I make sure the razor and the SS anode have little tiny bubbles coming up before I go off and leave it, because that's how I know it's working. After I think it's been long enough for the rust to come off, I take the razor out and rub the gray haze off with some gray pads that I got at the hardware store, 3M type Scotch Bright Finishing Pad product #10144NA, and then a good scrubbing with a small stainless steel brush (cheap at Harbor Freight or the hardware store). Then I rinse them with plain water and then dry them off thoroughly and put some oil or WD 40 on to prevent further rusting.

A couple of weeks ago I wanted to de-rust an old license plate I'm trying to restore for a guy's classic car he's redoing. To my great surprise, it not only took off the rust, it also removed 100% of the 45 year old paint. The paint just fell of in big sheets. That was an unexpected but very welcome bonus. Of course, with any rust that's gone beyond surface, you have pits where the rust used to be. But no rust.

This is an excellent tool I wish I'd had a year ago when I started finding old straight razors with rust or black discolored areas on them. I spent hours with fine sandpaper and polish working to make them look presentable and in a good enough condition to put an edge on them.