http://web.archive.org/web/20070819152748/http://www3.telus.net/public/aschoepp/electrolyticrust.html


This shit works! Wish I took some before pics but I just cleaned up a heavily rusted cast iron dutch oven that had been sitting outside for over a year in 5 hrs. Looks like new now. Will do before/ after pics when I do the lid tomorrow.

[Edited on April 2, 2015 at 12:35 AM. Reason : link tags not working with this url]

4/2/2015 12:22:53 AM

First picture shows the setup. I used 1/2" rebar as the sacrificial anodes. Each piece of rebar is bent around to fit the bottom of the bin. Evidently this works line-of-sight, so you don't want 'shadowed' areas. There are 2 pieces of rebar there, connected together with copper wire on the outside of the bin. Supposedly you don't want to use anything but plain steel for the anodes as stainless, galvanized, and copper can make some "nasty stuff". I'm not sure what sort of nasty stuff but I'm assuming it will go into solution and possibly contaminate the cooking surface.

Second pic is the dutch oven after 5 hours in the solution next to the lid which has just been brushed briefly with a wire brush to knock off the heavy rust. You can see spots where it's down to bare iron, and other spots that are black in color... I think these areas might be some of the remaining factory seasoning. After I dried the dutch oven I saw some remaining rust on the inside which I brushed off fairly easily before the first coating of oil to season. It's on the grill baking right now.




[Edited on April 2, 2015 at 3:53 AM. Reason : d]

4/2/2015 3:52:31 AM

pretty cool, that's just a 12V battery charger (I haven't read the link yet)?

also I just got an egg on this page.

also the OP had a little bit of a Billy Mays feel to it that made me lol (RIP)

4/2/2015 8:45:45 AM

Hi, Billy Mays here with a new way to remove rust!!

Took the lid out of the bath and scrubbed it off with a wire brush, rinsed, and dried it. This is what it looks like all naked:


I smeared on a thin layer of flax seed oil and threw it on the grill for the first seasoning. People mess this up and end up with sticky seasoning by putting on too much oil at a time and by not baking hot/long enough. You're supposed to heat it to around 500F and let it go for at least an hour (until there is no more smoke) to insure that all the oil has polymerized. The pot has already had it's first seasoning last night, so it's on round 2.


[Edited on April 2, 2015 at 12:25 PM. Reason : d]

4/2/2015 12:24:19 PM

Here it is after re-seasoning. That's actually just one coat on the lid, and 2 on the pot. I was surprised at how black it got after just one coating. Ideally you'd do this a few more times but I'm going to wait until I have some more stuff to put on the grill with it.

4/7/2015 10:53:26 PM

It looks new....

4/7/2015 11:14:32 PM