David, I believe that from the perspective of the curation of highly valuable objects, that perhaps Fernando is correct in his claim that electrolysis is the only way to remove corrosion on ferric material without in some way affecting the material.
I have had people send me descriptions of how they have used this method, I have had discussions with a couple of museum curators on the pros and cons of using it, and I think that there was a lengthy discussion on its use in this Forum some years ago.
In short, I know about it, but I have never used it, and I doubt that I ever will.
Why would I not use such an apparently excellent method?
Simply because compared with the method I have used for more than 60 years it is too much trouble, and for the type of things I need to clean there is no material advantage.
If I needed to clean a very old, very valuable, very fragile, irreplaceable artifact, I would probably investigate the electrolysis method and consider using it. But for the type I things I need to clean, I consider this state of the art method to be unnecessary.
So I do not use it, for much the same reason that I do not use cabinet maker's tools to replace a paling in a fence:- it is overkill.
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