[ghost]

I have the same problem.
The only thing I am concerned about is that in both stainless steel and aluminum, the corrosion is prevented by passivation.

Wouldn't stainless steel erode due to exposure of iron from the chromium protective layer?

Would aluminum work?

Brass?
Nicker?
Tin?

Lead?
Copper?
Chromium?

Any other fairly popular metals?

I am building a Hoffman apparatus.

Hey I am new to this site, but i noticed that one of the things you mentioned cavemen  was a brass wire. This reaction doesn't work because brass has copper in it and when the reaction takes place, the hydroxide and copper form copperhydroxide which precipitates. I just tried this in my house with a 9volt battery, and i got a bunch of blue stuff at the bottom, so figured it was just copper hydroxide, as copper is usually blue.