Lye bath before e-tank question

S

Shawn R

Member
We have been using an e-tank to clean CI for a little over a month now. It has worked out great. Last week we set up a lye bath and a vinegar tank. We have done a couple items with just the lye and vinegar and they turned out very nice. Now we are putting all our finds into the lye tank and will end with the e-tank.

Should we leave items in the lye until completely clean, then proceed to the next step? Or use the lye to get the cleaning started and let the e-tank do the work?

Is the vinegar just for rust removal or is it also to neutralize the lye?

Our procedure now is lye for a day or more(depending on how nasty). Rinse with water and put in the vinegar bath for 30 minutes. Rinse with water and put in the e-tank. E-tank for about 12 hours at 6 amps. Why 12 hours? Because I can swap a piece before work and then again after I get home and eat supper. Does this procedure sound about right? Am I missing something or doing too much?
 
Lye doesn't work on rust, but vinegar and electro do. If there is (or was) no rust, there is no reason to use vinegar.

Lye doesn't work on crud that has no grease left in it. At some point, therefore, on some pieces, lye will stop working. That's when it's time to switch over to electro.

If lye will do it all, and you're not in a hurry, let it.

Lye does not need to be neutralized with vinegar; save it for rust and pickles. Rinsing thoroughly is all that's necessary.

Every piece is different, so doing what it takes is not too much. There's no reason for overkill, though. Don't get bogged down in the unnecessary minutiae that some preach. Finding a methodology that works for you and you're comfortable with is the best solution.
 
Doug D. said:
Every piece is different, so doing what it takes is not too much. There's no reason for overkill, though. Don't get bogged down in the unnecessary minutiae that some preach. Finding a methodology that works for you and you're comfortable with is the best solution.
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I guess that I preach, :) but a combination lye & e-tank works well for me.
 
I have been doing the two tank thing for some time with great results.

All cast iron pieces go in the Lye Tank once home. I set this lye tank last fall as I can not do it outside over the winter, unless I want a 35 gal block of ice. It is as black as tar, but still works great. I do use a lot of lye in my tank, fact if you want to steal some of my cast iron in my lye tank your hands will come out with no skin.:evil:

When my pieces come out they get washed and are clean of all old crust. If they have any rust they go into my E-Tank with Lye and come out ready for seasoning. This E-Tank was set up late winter. I did have a few days that it turned to ice, but I found that if I left it on it would keep the ice at bay due to the heat.
I have put around 75 pieces through my E-tank with Great results only to remove rust, no grease and oils. The lye water in my E-Tank (55 gallons) is clear with all the rust settled to the bottom. I have a large magnet that I use to retreave pieces from the tanks when it falls in. Well I put the magnet in the other day and it came out with rust flakes, new way to clean the E-Tank.

This works for me. :icon_thumbsup:
 
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