[Jewelry making - Article 00134] - Re: [Orchid] silver soldering and acids

[Rene Roberts]

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>      Although, if it is useable in Swimming Pools as an acid, I
>     doubt that it is very toxic in water . . . one could dump it
>     down the drain without too much worry 

    After watching this debate, I have to add my 2=A2. Sodium
    bisulfate, when added to water, releases sulfuric acid. The
    concentration of this acid in a pickle is usually about 10%. It's
    enough to burn holes in your hands and your clothing. This is a
    little more concentrated than what is in a swimming pool. Then,
    after you've used it till its dark blue, there's a pretty high
    concentration of copper ions in it as well. True, "one penny in a
    river" (as Peter Rowe suggested) is more copper than there is in
    a batch of used pickle. However, we are many many jewelers and
    schools, with many many batches of pickle, all going down the
    drains. I like to believe that environmental consciousness can
    start with one person, and that if we all say "well, this little
    bit won't hurt . . ." where are we? Personally, I don't believe
    this stuff belongs down the drain, not because my little batch of
    pickle will hurt anything in the huge scheme of things, but
    because if everyone did it, it might. 

    Someone else suggested that it was the same stuff used to clean
    the algae out of drains. I looked on one of these containers of
    copper salts to see about the warnings. Won't harm sewers or
    septics, it says. Then in fine print: this product is toxic to
    fish. My septic system is only a few hundred feet above a small
    stream which feeds a larger river. In fact, most people even in
    cities live near rivers or oceans, and the things we put down our
    drains do get into those waterways and into our ground water. The
    sewerage tratment plants can handle some, but not all of it.
    It's not the acid in the pickle which is the most harmful. It's
    the heavy metals after it's been used. Acid can be neutralized,
    metals can't. Even if the fish don't die from metal toxicity,
    they are at the bottom of our food chain. I like to eat the
    salmon which spawn in these rivers. 

    One thing I do with used pickle is to use it as a copper plating
    solution, with pieces of steel or iron to get the reaction going.
    I'll plate copper pieces where I don't want a silver solder seam
    to show, or I'll plate etched or roll printed silver pieces and
    then buff the plating off of the high points. If I want to
    dispose of the pickle, I neutralize it with baking soda and let
    the liquid evaporate and take the sediment to a toxic waste
    disposal place. 

    Perhaps this is taking environmentalism to extremes, but I
    believe every little bit helps. 

Rene
on the northern Calif coast


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