So, after reading DaveO's excellent thread on electrolytic rust removal, I posted there on the idea of applying the concept to a piece too big to fit in a tank. As luck would have it, yesterday morning I stumbled across a massive Boy Scout Garage Sale. I ended up leaving said garage sale with this:



For the princely sum of US $5.00, I am now the proud owner of a very old, very cool jointer/planer, circa 1950's. The make is "Homecraft" by Delta/Rockwell, and the condition is excellent. Looks like it was bought new a half a century ago, used a time or two, and sent to the corner of a garage where it sat until now. The bed and fence have a perfectly uniform layer of surface rust, absent any deep pitting or gouging, leaving me to believe that it's just rust due to exposure, not drops or anything more destructive. It looks to me to be the prefect candidate to try the concept of electrolytic rust removal. This closeup shows a little more detail of what I'll be cleaning up.



I did a google search for the Washing soda, and the only place I found that possibly had the stuff locally was a high-end grocery store. I even called the Hardware stores in the area that I will frequent when looking for obscure, oddball items, to no avail. So, as luck would have it, later in the day, I ended up at the local "new school" hardware store to get parts for a screen door repair. I mantioned the washing soda by name brand to the kid helping me. After giving me a blank look, he turned, walked away, and returned 1 minute later, holding the prize in his hands, surprised as he was, as he had never heard of the stuff, and pleased that he was able to meet my needs. The price for the box pictured below was $4.79, plus tax.



So the plan is at this point on hold because I need to source a suitable sponge for the experiment, and I think that natural cellulose sponge will end up being the ideal medium for the job (that's the kind that comes new flattened out, and expands to it's full size when initially soaked). But will go as follows:

Make up the solution, as specified by DaveO @ 1 TBSP soda/1 Gallon of Water.
Soak sponge in solution.
Place solution-soaked sponge on top of rusty machine surface.
Place anode on top of sponge (I have a piece if bare steel for this)
Connect the battery charger, red to the anode, and black to the machine near the area to be treated
Fire it up and see what happens.

Predictions anyone?