degaussing for compass

Recently, nrp posted:

It may be a more tricky task than it appears, since to
degauss the object one has to apply exactly?

Degaussers work from line power by generating a strong 60 Hz
alternating flux which is slowly decreased in intensity by removing
the degausser coil away from the subject.

My over-generalization was in response to the typical use of a magnetic
tape degausser where the size of the coil is much larger than the item
being degaussed and the purpose is only to randomize the magnetic
alignment of the oxide particles. In that use, residual magnetism isn't
critical, but I don't think it would be the same for magnetized bars (the
braces) that are much *larger* than the coil.

I'd remove the compass and
any electronics first though for that reason.

I'd think a strong or larger degausser could be temporarily made from
a 500 ft coil of three conductor (plus ground) # 14 romex wiring
cable. The ends should be connected to make a 2000 ft coil, and the
whole mess tied together with tie wraps. As an alternate the whole
mess could be made with 3 conductor extension cords. & a suicide
plug/socket arrangement.

Has anyone ever tried something like this?

Well... I still think it would be better to remove the braces from the
plane first. Using that size coil in-situ sounds risky.

Neil