I have been using Citpric Pickle solution as a safe alternative for
over a year now. It works well and until the other night, I havent
had a problem. My work became copper plated! This is something that
Citpric is not suppose to cause, ever. I contacted Gesswien where I
buy it, and they have no idea why it happened. If anyone does,
could you let me know, Its not fun removing the copper from my work,
as I am sure you all know.
Daniel Hamilton
Any pickle solution (sparex, citric, sulfuric etc.) that becomes
heavily loaded with dissolved metals ( in your case copper that has
been reduced from the oxides that you pickle off your work) will act
as a plating bath if you get iron in it. So some how you got some
iron in the pickle at the same time the work was in there and
created a electrolytic cell which plated your work. Remove the iron
from the bath and the problem goes away.
Pink oxide removal is a snap! Go to this page and see the
instructions for hydrogen peroxide pickles.
http://www.reactivemetals.com/data/d_h2o2instr.html
I developed this in graduate school at the U of Kansas around 1980.
It is all drugstore/grocery products and strips off pink oxides in
seconds. We charge 50=A2 if you want a copy mailed to you. Bill
Hi Daniel, Daniel here. You mentioned the trouble of removing
copper plating form your work. Are you using silver or gold? if so,
can you not just oxidize the copper surface with a gentle sweeping
flame (to encourage oxidation) and pickle the cuprous oxide from the
piece? I do this with accidental plating. Sometimes takes a couple
of go-rounds, but it works for me.
Danny