I need help. Could any of you tell me which blackening agent
you have used on silver that is the most durable? I have a ring
that was returned after only two weeks because the “black” came
off the silver. This has never happened to me before, I use
silver-black or other such things, but it has made me wonder
about durability.
I would appreciate specific recommendations on what you would
use for silver rings.
Thanks, Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth, I’ve always used liver of sulfur for blackening
silver. Don’t leave it in the ultrasonic too long, or pickle it.
But with normal wear it should last a long time.
Duane BaysingerElizabeth, I use liver of sulfur for oxidizing silver (including
rings) and have never had such a problem. Any jewelry supplies
place carries it. I use it diluted with water either as is or
sometimes add a little heat to set the color.
Did this ring have recesses to hold the black? If not, wearing
a ring often would be enough to “buff” off any oxidation.
Regarding the mentions of liver of sulphur… We too used to
use it, where I teach, but found it expensive, especially when
the students left the lid off the jar of chunks and left them
exposed to the air to go bad. Then Roger Horner, our technician,
found a much cheaper substitute -A Lilly Miller poly sulphide
product used in the garden, probably to kill something. It is a
liquid; we just add some to warm water and use as the liver. I
cannot remember the exact name now as I am not at school. It
would produce a sulphide, so I would imagine that it would wear
just the same as a liver patina.
Mary
I need help. Could any of you tell me which blackening agent you have used on silver that is the most durable? I have a ring that was returned after only two weeks because the "black" came off the silver. This has never happened to me before, I use silver-black or other such things, but it has made me wonder about durability.
You can use Black Max Oxidizer from Rio Grande or possibly liver
of sulphur. You need to apply the Black Max with a steel or iron
tool for maximum effects. The liver of sulphur needs to be
heated and applied. Brass brush after applying and then re apply
several times, brushing between each application. Another option
is to have your pieces plated with a black chrome coating. Red
Sky Corporation will do this for you. You can reach them at:
(505)243-6600 630 Oak South East, Albuquerque, NM 87106. Steve
Brixner
Believe it or not, regular Chlorox works very well. It has to
be slightly heated, and gives a softer and somewhat browner color
than Liver of Sulpher.
I also have a question about oxidisers.It seems that sometimes
the black areas turn greyish.arghhhh! !What to do and what causes
this? Anybody out there in jewelry land have this problem?
S.Bradley
Liver of Sulpher! Make sure it is freshly made and the piece is
HOT when you apply it. I haven’t had a durability problem.
Hmmmm, what was the customer doing to cause the black to wear
off???
After blacking any peice of jewelry I then wax it. I used to use
JOHNSONS Wax in the can. I still use this for many patina colors
but I discovered that Black shoe polish works even better for
black patinas. Either of these will deepen the color to more
’black’ like it looks when its wet. They will also protect the
patina from wearing off very easily. Another trick to get a very
black finish is to sandblast the area that you are blackening.
What you are doing is increasing the surface area by about three
times. So, when you blacken, there is alot more depth to it.
Have Fun,
Susan
My two cents: I use the liquid stuff from Rio Grande, which I
find more reliable and less likely to go bad than liver of
sulphur lumps. I usually scrub the parts to be darkened with a
denture brush and pumice (used for wood finishing), the roughened
surface takes color better. If color doesn’t take well, usually
the metal isn’t fully clean. If you have peeling, the coating is
too thick. When I used the set-it-on-a-hot-plate method
described in a previous post, I had occasional peeling problems.
Now I soak a few seconds in hot solution, rinse in hot water,
repeat until the black is black, and I haven’t had a spotty
result yet. These things may seem elementary to some, but I
wish someone had mentioned them to me years ago…
Dana Carlson
What about a blackening agent for gold? I hate that "antiqueing"
or black paint. We frequently use Gun Metal Black from rio, and
plate that on. Its shinny, glossy black, similar to black rhodium
(which is much more expensive). But if we need a flat black that
stays forever we are limited to the black paint, (and it doesn’t
stay forever). I have tried some flat black plating products, but
it all comes off easily. Help me you wise and wonderful smiths.
Mark P.
M> What about a blackening agent for gold? I hate that "antiqueing"
M> or black paint.
G’day, Mark; As ‘pure’ (24-22ct) gold reacts with practically
nothing else except aqua regia - which is the reason why it is
found as the shiny metal and not some compound of it like most
other metals - the answer is that you can only blacken gold by
coating it with something. Low carat gold contains plenty of
copper, and you might blacken the copper on the surface of it.
However, you could copper or silver plate the gold item and use
the usual sulphiding agents to turn that black in exactly the
same process you would use to blacken silver or copper. But to
get a fairly adhesive plate, you would have to do it electrically
at a low current. I have done that successfully. Cheers,
/\
/ / John Burgess,
/ /
/ //\ @John_Burgess2
/ / \ \
/ (___) \
(_________)What about a blackening agent for gold? I hate that “antiqueing”
or black paint. We frequently use Gun Metal Black from rio, and
plate that on. Its shinny, glossy black, similar to black rhodium
(which is much more expensive).
hi mark p.
there is a product called winox that is good, and then there is
a product called jax silver and gold blackener that is ok but not
as good. they are both available from borel & frei in san fran.
tell me about this gun metal black. there is something called
gun blue that you can buy from gun places that works on copper,
brass, sterling. just rub it on and it is flat black. do you
actually plate the gun metal black on? i think the black rhodium
is rhodium contaminated with copper. one can cantaminate ones own
rhodium by using copper wire tied to the work piece. that one
doesn’t work here anymore.
were you the one having trouble with the lindstrom obliqe
cutter? i posted a source for an alternative brand but i think
you were on vacation. the source is Dov G. Sagive Enterprises
Inc. 503.225.0570.the plier series is called ‘durox 2000, hm
series’. their cutters are just as expensive (40.00) as
lindstrom, but the steel appears very tough. i’ve used them
briefly at a workshop hosted by ray holliday.i do not own them.
best regards,
geo fox
< tell me about this gun metal black.
George.
The gun metal black is a plating solution (cyanide). You heat it
up to 170 F, hang your high polished peice in and plate at 3
volts for about 10 min… The fumes are bad, a hood is a must. The
entire item (I have only done this with gold) is plated a shiny
black. You must plan to have the areas that remain black
recessed, concaved is best. You high polish the areas that you
don’t want black after plating. I have not found a mask that can
survive the plating bath. It works very well, I have used it at
least 100 times. A quart runs about $40.00 from rio. As the
solution is used up, it takes longer and longer to get a super
dark finish and you must replace it. We will often use it on
gents rings and it seems to last unless abraided. Need to redo
maybe once a year, like you would rhodium.
Thanks alot for the nipper tip, your a pal.
Mark P.
My favorite technique is what used to be called black velvet.
The process involved sandblasting, heavily copper plating, then
dipping in a heated compound called ‘ebenol-C’. Unfortunately, I
don’t know where to get the ebenol-c anymore, or what it even
is… it sure did a good job of putting a permanent (keep it
away from acid) velvety black finish…