While I don’t have a photo, I used the same idea when moving the paddles to the eletro bath. Instead of using non-conductive jute twine, the stainless steel rod attachments I normally use in the electro fit through the hole in the paddles, right below where the wooden handle starts. How convenient was that? I zapped them for 8 to 10 hours. I didn’t want the paddles to start to heat up, and the bubbles coming up from the solution did splash upwards onto the tape.
Since these are waffle iron paddles, I naturally had some touch up work to do on the inside that the electro misses, so I used a dental pick to remove some crud in troublesome areas there.
Now comes the tricky part. There is about an inch of cast iron shaft between where the electro solution rose to and where the wooded paddles start that still needs to be de-gunked and cleaned. If you have cleaned a few pieces in an electrolysis tank, you know that if a piece is not completely submerged, you can get a line that forms on the cast iron right where the solution stops. This line can be tricky to get rid of.
I taped off and plastic wrapped the handles again, got out the cotton swabs, took a dip of solution from the lye bath, and went to work on that 1-inch spot on each paddle shaft until the paddles were de-gunked.
After the lye solution and a change of tape and plastic, it was time to de-rust. I’ll admit that there was minimal visual rust present. But to be complete, it was time for more cotton swabs and some 50/50 vinegar and water solution. I finished with a stainless steel wool scrub down of the area on each shaft, rinsed with water, and dried them off with a 100% cotton towel.
The paddles were looking pretty good. There was no line on the shaft where electro solution ended.
