[Jewelry making - Article 01046] - Re: [Orchid] New Experience with Pickle

[brainnet]

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>     I was told by the instructor to pickle after every annealing. I
>     have also been given 2 opinions on the use of brass vs. copper
>     tongs in the pickle.

    Hi Kim, I'm sure you will get a torrent of opinion on this one. 

    I tend not to pickle very often in a fold-forming, certainly not
    when the fold has been annealed and is still folded up-I don't want
    acid in the recesses which would splash out when forged again etc,
    plus, as you say, it takes time. I've never seen a problem from doing
    this. One might pickle, and brass brush with soapy water near the end
    of a sequence. As well in a shop one works on several items at once
    so you never have to stop moving unless you actually want to take a
    break.

    Secondly, brass, copper tongs, makes little difference in my mind.
    Copper might avoid an occasional and rare problem with zinc (from the
    brass) initiating an electrolytic plating -(Have I ever seen this
    from brass tweeezers-no). In England I've seen brass tweezers used at
    the bench frequently for pickle. 

    Sometimes I see pickle pots in schools labeled gold and silver only
    and copper and brass only. I always find this funny, as there is no
    reason to segregate the metals like that in an art school situation.
    In Germany, where I trained the pickle pots for gold and silver were
    actually made of thick copper, we would take a dipperful of sulfuric
    acid and water, hold it over a giant foot pedal operated bunsen
    burner and bring it to a boil in moments. Iron, steel, zinc in the
    pickle is another story but even there myths abound. The reason for
    any copper plating that occurs is you have made a battery by having
    two appropriately different metals such as iron and silver in the
    (plating solution) pickle at the same time. When you take the
    tweezers out the current stops and the pickle goes back to normal.

best
charles

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