[Jewelry making - Article 00988] - Re: [Orchid] Everything in tumbler is copper plated!

[Steven Holden]

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    Hi Jules, I've had this happen to me too...the weird thing is,it just
    seems to occur even though I've done everything as normal with the
    tumbler....but here's what I do when it happens... 

    All the copper plated stuff, I generally pickle again  until the
    copper stain goes away,then throw away that batch of pickle.Clean out
    the tumbler barrel very thoroughly and rinse all the shot in a bicarb
    solution.Use only distilled water in the barrel,try tumbling a piece
    of scrap ,and see if it gets plated...if it does,..get some more shot
    and dispose of the old stuff...if it doesn't, you're clear ,but use
    distilled water  in the barrel, make sure your tumbling
    soap/detergent is alkali,not ph neutral or acidy( I always use really
    cheapo washing up liquid), and ensure that you rinse all pickle
    residue from your pieces before they go into the tumbler. I haven't
    yet figured out why stuff suddenly gets copper plated, but the above
    remedies and precautions are what work for me...my theory is that
    the shot is getting contaminated somehow and a kind of plating
    environment is being created in the tumbler....pickle residue,
    chlorine in water, acidy detergent, ah yes  also tumbling Indian or
    Thai silver with sterling I suspect has been the culprit sometimes... 

    I should really like to hear from anyone who has a definitive answer
    to the cause of this problem,because it is a pain in the culo when it
    happens... 

Steve Holden
www.platayflores.com



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