[Jewelry making - Article 00514] - Re: [Orchid] Safer pickles

[Peter W . Rowe]

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>     Warm pickle works much faster than cold.  It should be warm
>     though, not overhot.  In a hobby situation there is no need for the
>     "boiling out" sometimes mentioned in older books. 


Kevin,

    The "boiling out", or "boil out pot" you're talking about probably
    refers not to a pickling solution, but to an alkaline cleaning one. 
    Some of us still use it, either in place of, or next to and as an
    alternative to, ultrasonic cleaners. In our shop, we use a boil out
    pot with a simmering solution of TSP as a means of cleaning the gunk
    out of rings, behind stones, etc, before working on them, or as a
    means of cleaning polishing compound off after polishing.  This
    would be for those times when the ultrasonic cleaner is not
    appropriate, such as if there is risk of loosing loose stones, or
    with metals or stones which the ultrasonic can damage.  The boil out
    takes longer, but is effective, and much gentler to the jewelry. 
    Won't shake out stones that aren't securely set, and won't frost the
    finish on cast sterling silver, the way stronger ultrasonics can do
    if the silver is left in there a bit to remove stubborn deposits of
    polishing compound...    And I know of one commercial repair shop
    that simply does not use an ultrasonic at all.  Instead, they clean
    their work using, under a good exhaust vent, a boil out pot filled
    with a solution of lye.  They've another one with much gentler TSP, I
    think, or perhaps some other detergent, for things that cannot
    tolerate lye.  The reason they went to this setup is that they work
    with a lot of silver, and got tired of having to repolish silver
    things that had gotten marred by the ultrasonic they'd had before.  

Peter



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