[TheForge] coal or charcoal morph to Evaporust

[Peter Hirst]

Sounds like finishing hell to me, but I'm not all that adventurous.  On the 
other hand, I did discover one neat trick that results in an interesting 
texturing.  Put the workpiece on the negative clip for a day or two, and you 
get a huge, fast and unevenly distrubuted rust build up.  Then reverse the 
polarity back to normal, popping the new rust off and you get texturing that 
raises pitting to an art form:  more like cratering.  But since the rust 
happens so fast, its not evenly distributed like it is  if you leave a piece 
of iron where it can rust slowly and evenly.  Instead,  you get a deep rich 
texture which when cleaned up bright gives a real organic look, something 
you culd never do with a tool, and  very different from the tell-tale 
pitting of the merely neglected or abused piece.  I discovered this when I 
was setting up electrolysis on a piece that has been kicking around my shop 
for a couple of years and built up a nice even pitting from a couple of 
rust/wire wheel cycles.  It just looked like a piece that had been rusted 
and brushed bright, so I decided to see what would happen if I exaggerated 
the effect by deliberately rusting it one more time.  Pretty cool result.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer" <artgawk at thegrid.net>
To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 12:00 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] coal or charcoal morph to Evaporust


> Thanks Peter;
> Sounds like finishing fun. Possibly using mixed metals,resists and 
> inclusions under a patina?
> peter
>
> Peter Hirst wrote:
>> He means FIRMLY as in electroplated.  Whatever is in the anode that can 
>> be dissolved --chrome, copper from the battery clip, impurities etc -- 
>> will migrate through the solution and chemically bond with the work 
>> piece, but in an uncontrolled manner.  SOme of these bonds are as strong 
>> as the crystalline structure of the iron itself. And some of these can 
>> actually promote re-rustingafter the treatment.  This is one reason why 
>> an alkaline solution is recommended.  No interference with the 
>> electrolytic reduction at the cathode (+).
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer" 
>> <artgawk at thegrid.net>
>> To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 10:23 PM
>> Subject: Re: [TheForge] coal or charcoal morph to Evaporust
>>
>>
>>> James;
>>>
>>>  "you will end up
>>> > with all kinds of junk firmly attached to your work piece."
>>>
>>> Please expand on this subject ,if the "firmly" part means permanent.
>>> What is the final surface effect?.......pf
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> James Binnion wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On Jun 24, 2008, at 9:51 PM, Peter Hirst wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Frosty:  you answered your own question on the phosphoric acid. Nasty 
>>>>> stuff in any strength.
>>>>
>>>> It is used in many food products at the appropriate dilution (think 
>>>> soft drinks)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>  Not sure it would work in electrolyte bath.  The electrolysis tends 
>>>>> to redeposit the iron back onto itself, while the phosphoric acid 
>>>>> tends to dissolve the elemental iron.  The chemical action of the acid 
>>>>> and the electrlysis are two different reactions.  The sole function of 
>>>>> the ion in the bath is to conduct electricity, which in turn exactly 
>>>>> reverses what happens in the the creation of ferric oxide -oxidation. 
>>>>> Phosphoric acid dissolves the iron itself, which is why its used to 
>>>>> etch for other fininsh preps.
>>>>
>>>> The rust dissolving nature of your electrolytic setup is from the 
>>>> reduction of the iron oxide (rust) back to iron by the atomic hydrogen 
>>>> liberated at the cathode(-) from the electrolysis of the water in your 
>>>> electrolyte. If you use an acid like phosphoric in the electrolyte 
>>>> solution you will end up dissolving the anode(-) into the electrolyte 
>>>> and those ions will then plate out on the workpiece which you really 
>>>> don't want them to do. This is the basis for electroplating but your 
>>>> electrolyte will not be a very good plating solution and you will end 
>>>> up with all kinds of junk firmly attached to your work piece.
>>>>
>>>> James Binnion
>>>> jbin at well.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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