[Jewelry making - Article 00445] - Re: [Orchid] How to remove gold plating on bracelet

[Al work]

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Hi Karen,

    A possible way to remove gold plating from silver: 

    Carefully anneal the whole piece to almost red heat, then pickle.
    The gold soaks into the silver when heated and disappears. Polish by
    scrubbing with a fine brass wire brush using soap or bi-carb as a
    lubricant. This will not be your brilliant buffing type polish, what
    it does is burnish the surface, the bristles reach into the
    engravings and crevices producing a satiny shine without removing any
    metal at all. It can be improved by rubbing lightly with a silver
    cloth. 

    If you cannot heat the bracelet because of heat-sensitive stones,
    springs in the clasp, possible lead solder in the construction etc,
    then electrolytic stripping may work but I have little knowledge of
    the best way to do that. 

Cheers, Alastair
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