[TheForge] Electolytic rust reclaiming

[Jeff Harding]

Hi all...

   I asked a guy I know that is one of those people that remembers
everything he ever read and actually understands things in the more
abstract, "theoretical" way.  He's even good with his hands, though
not likely to ever make "flat rate".  So...this is what he said is
happening.

   When iron oxidizes it absorbs oxygen, as it does it "bubbles up"
leaving the rust and pits we are all familiar with.  He says that if
you controlled a rusting piece of iron so that none of the oxide is
lost, the final pile of iron oxide would weigh more than the original
piece of iron.  The electrolytic conversion removes the oxygen from
the iron oxide leaving it in it's original chemical composition.

   The bubbling up of the metal however is not changed, so now the
de-oxygenated metal is not as solid as it was, it retains it's
porosity.

   Anyone?

   Jeff   ><>