Cleaning Metals with Electrolysis.

e·lec·trol·y·sis (-lk-trl-ss, lk-) n:

Chemical change, especially decomposition, that is produced in an electrolyte by an electric current.

That's what I've been up to the past couple of days. Elecrolysis is a pretty neat little hobby. It sounds all scientific and technical, but it really isn't.

I use electrolysis to clean coins. I'm not a coin collector or anything though. I just found a few coins that were minted the year I was born and wanted to clean them up really nice.

I'd heard about electrolysis for cleaning metals on tv shows and in school a few times before. So I thought I'd use that to do it. I started searching around a little and found a great tutorial on the practice at G0 Metal Detecting.

I found pretty much everything I needed to make my electrolysis kit laying around the house. It's just a glass jar, a stainless steel washer, a 12v AC/DC adapater, and two allegator clips. You need water, salt, and lemon juice to make the electrolyte solution when you've got everything else ready. The only thing I had to make a trip to the store for was the allegator clips.

So far I've cleaned three coins. I messed up the first coin by placing it on the positive wire instead of the negative. The object to be cleaned must be placed on the negative wire. When you do it wrong dirt still comes off of the coin, but it doesn't work nearly as well. The coin's finish is pretty much ruined.

When you do it right you'll be amazed by the results. Wipe the coin off with a paper towel or some cloth that you don't mind throwing away. Then polish the coin with metal polish. I use MAAS and it works perfectly.

I wish I had a camera worthy enough to capture pictures of these coins. The camera I've got wouldn't do them justice though. You'll have to take my word. The 1978 penny that I just cleaned for my sister looks like it was minted yesterday.

The thing I like the most about this is that it's fun. The whole process only takes a few minutes and it's really something to see. The coin is constantly fizzing and you can see the "smut" detaching from the coin and applying itself to the steel. What you're left with is a big jar of greenish-black water.

It's simple enough to clean everything up. The grime wipes right off of the steel and your allegator clips. That makes it pretty easy to do over and over again with the same tools.

The AC/DC adapter gets really hot. That's the only drawback. It's pretty cool here in Indiana right now and I'm doing this out in the garage. Having the cool air around the transformer seems to help a little.

If you're skiddish about trying this out then don't be. Everyone's got some kind of metal coins or jewelry that needs cleaned. There's not a more amusing way to do it. You'll have a lot of fun.

Relevant Links:
Electrolysis Tutorial @ Go Metal Detecting
Electrolysis @ Wikipedia