Electrolysis to Clean Finds

 Okay, I am new to electrolysis and have been experimenting with it to clean up some of my metal detecting finds.  Here is what I use: car battery charger, Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (this is not baking soda and can be found on the laundry isle at the super market), you need a chunk of metal that you don't care about to use as a sacrificial anode (I have been using an old spoon that I found),  a handful of alligator clips from Radio Shack, and a plastic container (I use a plastic peanut butter jar).

Fill the container with water and add some washing soda to the water (not sure how much) so that it will conduct electricity.  Clip the positive battery charger cable to the spoon (anode), and the negative one to the object you would like to clean (cathode).  I use the cheap alligator clips to hang the object in the water.  Make sure the anode and cathode  don't touch.

Turn on or plug in the batter charger.  I am using the trickle charge mode.  You should see the cathode start to bubble.  It is making hydrogen, so keep the area ventilated.  I have left objects in there for 24 hours depending on how much rust needs to be removed.  Check on the object occasionally washing it off.  Eventually the rust clumps will easily fall off.  

Caution:  This process can get the tank very hot.  I melted the first container I tried, so be careful.
Here is a good site that talks about electrolysis

4/19/12 Cascade Park

Dad and I were back to Cascade Park again last night.  Still searching for that platinum ring that was lost.  I found a token, a five pence, a LDS Church young woman recognition award, a drawer pull, and 3 zipper pulls, along with $4.52 in clad coinage.

It was a beautiful evening, shown above with Cascade Mountain in the background.

Here is my Dad's loot. 110 coins for a total of $9.15 in clad.  That is a lot of up and down for an 85 year  old.

5 keys, 3 tokens and some other stuff too.

4-18-12 Cascade Park

My Dad, Mike and I hunted Cascade park again last night for a couple hours.  We had a couple reports of lost platinum ring, and we were hoping to help find it.  I did find one ring, but it was not platinum.  It rang up as a 10-09 on my E-Trac, about like a gold ring would come up.  It wasn't gold either. I did have a few interesting finds.  A scout neckerchief slide, a copper bangle, a chunk of metal the has a "Welcome Las Vegas" decal, and my junk ring.

It would rain off and on, but for the most part the weather was not too bad

Several of the deeper coins were in the 60's, but no silver.

4-17-12 Late Night at Cascade Park

Dad had been hunting Cascade park since 5 pm.  I joined him about 8:30 and hunted until 10:30, mostly after dark with head lights.  I came away with a pile of clad ($2.09) and the smallest ring I have ever found.  I thought it was a paper clip, at first, but the little heart shapes gave it away.

Mike's Big Coil

I laid in bed all Friday night and listened to the rain.  I figured Saturday would be washed out as far as metal detecting goes.  So I made plans to go see "The Hunger Games" with my daughters.  You can see one of their blogs about that here.  Anyway, I was still in bed Saturday morning when I got a text from Mike.  He had got his new coil in the mail and was anxious to get out and try it!

Mike's Big SEF Coil

I gave my Dad a call to tell him we were going metal detecting and I was on my way over to pick him up.  We met Mike at Orem City Park, and we all started off in oposite directions.  Turned out to be a beautiful morning.

I think the jury is still out on the big coil, but Mike with his big coil came away with a pile of clad, a silver ring, and 2 wheat pennies.  Not a bad haul.

Dad and I did not do quite as well.  I found the biggest chunk of lead ever.

He found a 1995 Sundance Film Festival dog tag.

My coolest find of the trip was an old token.   I can't explain why, but I love to find tokens.  One side reads:

GOOD FOR ONE FREE RACE

The other side:

4-13-12 Friday the 13th Easter egg hunt

After the family dinner, Dad and I ran to the Orem City Park to swing the metal detectors for a while before it got dark.  First thing I found, an Easter egg, that someone had missed, and it still had the chocolate treat in the middle (which I later ate).  Both Dad and I found a bit of silver.  He found the 925 ring from Thailand and I found the little sterling charm that has a image of the moon stone from the Nauvoo temple.

Orem City Park 4-12-12

Cold and rainy weather has kept me from getting out as much as normal.  The dirt was getting hard, so I am glad to be getting this rain.  After work the rain let up and I went to Orem City Park to try my luck.  I was looking for deep coins.  The oldest coin I found was a 1940 penny.  The digging was easy, but it was also a wet muddy mess.  By the time the sun set, my hands were freezing.