It’s been a minute and I’ve been swamped with way too many blue smoke related projects. Here’s the update on my Tall Boy. I already have the gaskets from Vintage but I’ve been staring at the rust and trying to figure out the plan. Settled on electrolysis. Bought some rebar for anodes and cut a piece of wood to support one in each chamber. Picked up some Arm and Hammer washing soda for the electrolyte mix. Running it battery charger to battery to anodes. First run was 4 hours at 2 amps and it cleaned it up surprisingly well but not there yet. Dumped the electrolytes, wired brushed the anodes and as I type this I am running it at 12 amps with a heavier mix of washing soda. Checked it at about 1/2 hour to make sure it wasn’t doing anything stupid and found the anodes had more build up at 15 minutes @ 12 amps than 4 hours @ 2 amps.
Pretty good. Total hours about 10,,,,mostly at 2 amps. Now on the 3rd session which involves refreshing the electrolyte and cleaning the anodes. Seeing a lot of bare metal which is a nice surprise.
Lost track of the hours but it been about a week of running the process an average of 6 hours a day. It’s looking pretty good but still more to go. Last night I decided to run it for 12 hours straight and the anodes are still pulling a huge amount. I’ve switched to marine battery only without battery charger in line and surprisingly it only drains about 10% over 12 hours. The anodes seem to pick up more rust also. Later today I’ll drop the water, dry it out and scope it to see what’s left. Hoping it’s now time for a white vinegar finishing wash.
August 6th and I have a finished product. Hard to capture a pic but have to say I am really surprised by how it cleaned up. After the last electrolysis run I washed it out with clean water and dried it to get a better sense of the condition. Looked good but still had some light rust down in some seams and some old gummy residue in the bottom. Poured in a gallon of cleaning vinegar and rotated it to let it sit for about 1/2 on each surface. Damn close to perfect. Mixed up some baking soda and water to neutralize the vinegar and rinsed it out. Finished it off by hitting all the surfaces with fogging oil to prevent flash rust.
.
