[Jewelry making - Article 01210] - Re: [Orchid] Gold testers gel tubes drive me nuts.

[Peter W . Rowe]

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>     Can this magic goop be purchased in bulk and somehow do away with
>     these nasty tubes. What is your solution? 

    My solution was to discard the relatively useless tester (without the
    gel, it's useless, and mine was one of the first models, much less
    convenient to use than current ones, with a reading that was just a
    number you had to then compare with a chart. 

    I went back to using traditional test acids. A small bottle of
    nitric, and another of hydrochloric. I feel in the amounts one is
    using, they're safe enough, and their shelf life (not unlimited, by
    the way) is a whole lot longer than those silly gels. With practice
    in the testing method, I feel the accuracy one can get is about the
    same too. It Does, however, take some practice. the premixed acids,
    already calibrated for certain carats, are easier to use, but I feel
    they are potentially less accurate in some situations. I prefer an
    actual comparison test on a streak of the unknown with a streak of a
    known test piece of metal. Add some schwerters salts mix for testing
    silver, and a bit of table salt for some tests (makes a very weak
    chloride source when added to nitric, slower acting than adding hcl
    to the nitric. 

Peter

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