[Jewelry making - Article 01165] - Re: [Orchid] New Experience with Pickle

[James Binnion]

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Noel,

    Here is what I believe happened. By applying solder to the piece you
    set up an electrolytic cell. In this case the sterling parent metal
    is more negatively charged (cathode) and the solder due to the zinc
    and copper content is more positively charged (anode) and this
    little battery sits in a nice warm bath of an electrolyte (pickle)
    and proceeds to dissolve the anode into solution and most likely
    plated the silver with a fine layer of zinc and copper. The finer
    joints would be the most quickly dissolved and the heavy bulky joints
    would be less affected but etched none the less. 

    All cases of combining two metals or two different alloys will set
    up one of these cells the only question is how much difference in
    potential is developed and how fast the corrosion will occur in the
    environment it is in. By placing the cell in warm pickle for a long
    period of time you allowed this cell to self-destruct.

James Binnion
jbin AT mokume-gane.com
James Binnion Metal Arts
http://www.mokume-gane.com

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