I use Nature’s Touch Citric Pickle room temperature in a pyrex measuring cup.
Works just about as good as hot sodium bisulphate “sparex”. I used 2 tablespoons in ~1 cup water and replenish with water till green; about 3 weeks.
Since I’m always making more than one piece having a piece in the pickle for a minute doesn’t slow me down. If some stubborn residue into the ultrasonic!
LOVE not having a crock pot or one of those rip off pickle pots!
I use pH down in an old crockpot with no heat. The heating element died years ago, so I threw it out and just use the pot with pickle at room temperature . 1 cup of pickle would not cover any of my bracelets and I am sometimes making 3 at a time. I have never measured it, but there are probably 3+ quarts of pickle in it. The latent heat of the just soldered bracelets quickly heats up the pickle. I do have a small pot that
I pour a bit of concentrated pickle into and boil it over an electric heating element. I use it to remove glassy residue and stain fro m smaller pieces like 10 of the same earrings at once. It just speeds up the process. I have tried citrus acid and 20% vinegar, but neither seems to work as well as pH down (sodium bi-sulfate)…Rob
My experience is that cold pickle works just as well as hot pickle, it just takes longer. Personally, I still like pickle to be warm because I’m impatient, but if the pickle is cold, I’m not going wait for it to warm up.
I’ve found that pickle will eat through crock pot glaze eventually and leak. That’s how I’ve killed all of my crock pot pickle containers. Eventually I figured out to put a pyrex bowl in my crock pot and only put water in the crock pot. The crock pots last much longer that way.
Anyway, that’s what I do.
Cheers!
Jeff
There’s a rule of thumb in chemistry that says that the rate of a reaction doubles every 10 C (about 1.8 F). Of course, this is not always strictly true, but it’s a good guideline. What this would mean is that lukewarm pickle at, say, 80F or so would be twice as fast than at room temp. I use citric acid and occasionally quench small pieces in it rather than wait for the pot to warm up. Yes, I don’t recommend that anyone else do this, and I probably wouldn’t with bisulfate.
I use sodium bisulfate, and often use it at room temperature. No problem. Just not as fast. Judy H
My memory is Dad always used unheated Batterns #2. I am sure he tried other stuff but like everyone I know he stuck with what suited him best. I used Battern’s #2 until I discovered PH Down in a manual and have used it since then. I don’t heat it. Since I leave silver in the pickle for long periods of time I have found no reason to do so. I build sequentially. I may make six bracelets at a time. Numbers one through six may go in the pickle and wait there until I pull them all out. This could be a matter of an hour or more before I go to the next step.
Don
Don…It was probably SPAREX…Rob
Yes Sparex 2. I blame my memory on my current case of COVID-19. Sparex.
D
Again! You need to stay out of bars. Good luck…Brother Rob
I blame everything on COVID, Don! Hope you feel better soon!
That’s what I do. I put the pickle in a pyrex bowl with a lid. I add water to the crock pot and place the container of pickle in the water. Hoping to get longer from my crock pot.
Well here it is 3 weeks out and Covid, for the present, is a thing of the past. Thanks
I have left sterling projects in cold pickle overnight and have been very pleased with the result. I have used pickle to create an interesting effect on silver and copper combinations. Care has to be taken or the pickle may weaken soldered earing posts as well as soldered granules and other bits with small surfaces.
Everyone has a technique or a process that works for them.
Don