[Jewelry making - Article 00199] - Re: [Orchid] Tumbler Contamination cleanup

[R . E . Rourke]

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    sounds llike you have some sodium hydroxide ad potassium
    permanganate problem...the characteristic is that it turns
    silver, brass and aluminum gold.. 

    so you need to neutralize your tumblers with soda crystals / baking
    soda./bicarbonate of soda and water first, then scrub them out with
    something akin to a green 3m polyweb pad..you don't want to remove
    plastic as with steel or bronze wool, but you do want to remove
    sludge film left by the 4 pack of "chemicals" that harbor freight
    sells to go with the tumblers..and buy extra barrels. use one for
    each type of chemical they give you or better yet, get your tumbling
    and polishing media from a jewelers supply..as the harbor freight
    junk contains Na thiosulfate that can ruin many pieces of jewelry,
    and stones. There are a lot of 4 step tumbling method kits on the
    market, lortone, gemex, etc. try Contenti, Rosenthal's Jewelry
    Supply, FDJ, Lortone, Romanoff, Livasasys, Thunderbird supply or any
    number of reputable sellers of media for both extra barrels and the
    stuff to go in them..Mark each barrel with a paint marker ( masking
    tape and a sharpie won't hold up like an enamel paint product) so
    you know what each is DEDICATED To..that should solve your
    problem...some people pay money to have their silver or brass come
    out hamilton gold coloured though so depending on the finishes you
    desire you may want to keep that barrel for a while. Eventually it
    will stop working evenly, then at all though so recreating what you
    did is as simple as buying a bottle of Jax metal finish in
    gold...Personally, plating is how I choose to recolour metal if
    absolutely necessary, but some people like the quick coating of a Jax
    type solution. 

R.E.Rourke
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