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Cleaning Porous Pot Cathodes - There's gotta be a better way!

Q. Hello all!

I'm new to the world of Chrome plating- so new, in fact, that I've just had to clean my first cathode! It reminded me of how much I miss anodizing. It's so much less obnoxiously filthy.

The current [see what I did there?] procedure is to haul it out by crane into a cut-off 55 gallon plastic drum, pull the cathode, put on ALLLL the PPE, and sit there sweating with a paint scraper for an hour or two...

I cannot believe this is the only way to clean these things. It's not even all that effective!

There has to be a better way. Acid soak? What acid? Electricity or nah? Reverse polarity in a dedicated tank to drive off the scale?

For reference these are carbon-lead cathodes. If anyone has a trick they would like to share, I'm all ears and will be very grateful. Bonus if your shop has a silly name for them... Time to clean the Lobstah Pots!

Thanks in advance!

Rachel Mackintosh
- Greenfield, Vermont
September 13, 2024