The one important thing to remember is that the POSITIVE is
a sacrificial anode and will be eaten away by this process . If
you hook it up backwards , your prize will disappear in short
order . And if you get the idea that a stainless bolt or sheet will
last longer as an anode , you would be correct . Just
remember it will leave toxic heavy metals in your soup .That
iron and steel do not .  
spent electrodes
This is all line of sight as the current flows in a straight line
from one anode to the other . I  often use old coffee and
solvent cans as anodes . This surrounds the part cleaning
more area at once and also allows me to make all electrical
connections above the water line so they don' get corroded
and stop cleaning in the middle of the night . The part I will flip
over once in a while .    Alright enough of that,  lets go salvage
some exquisitely stuck part .
Our volunteer tonight is a flyball governor with flat belt
pulley for my 15hp Joseph Reid gas engine . They
were first patented in 1898 and this governor appears
to have been buried for nearly as long . As you can
see by the photo the pulley and shaft have fused into
one piece without so much as a seam left to tell the
tale . The bob weights and brace are retained by four
recessed cheese head screw about a #10 and they
are in about the same shape . Stick a screwdriver on
this and you will remove nothing more than the slot on
the head of the screw
After about a minute the part is already starting to gas . The offgassing is
hydrogen . Explosive , but in minute amounts , and lighter than air it floats away
rather than collect in your bucket . This photo well shows  just how seized the
shaft and pulley were . After an hour things were looking pretty rabid
After 4-5 days of flipping , tapping , and wire
brushing I was able to back the screws out
without a torch and salvaged every bit of the
governor

                Chuck Balyeat 1997


ELECTROLYSIS FOR CLEANING
DELICATE  IRREPLACABLE PARTS
This a really effective way to clean rust from parts and free frozen
mechanisms that would  be destroyed by other means .
It is no where as complicated as some would have you believe . I
throw 2 or 3 hand fulls of baking soda into 3/5th's of a plastic
bucket of water , stir it up and let 'er rip . Some swear by washing
soda and if you can find it , great , if not just go get the box of
Arm and Hammer out of the freezer . She'll get another .
Abandoned in Washington state for
many decades to seize .....
and it lives again ! Took a week to
get the bored cleaned out enough
the piston would budge
Molasses Miracles
This stuff is fantastic !!