Hi Have any of you tried, or hea rd of, gold plating a metal object by dipping it in molten gold then b urnishing etc the surface?
There is an old non-electrolytic process of ‘dip plating’ that
involves some very poisonous chemicals. The bath u sed is made up of
1 pint distilled water, 50 grams s odium (or potassium)
pyrophosphate, 1 gram gold chloride a nd 1.5 grams potassium cyanide.
It is used at about 90 deg. C. The article is suspended from a
brass wi re, and is constantly agitated for the few seconds that it
is in the bath, then taken out, rinsed in fresh w ater, dried in warm
sawdust, and burnished if you like. A better ‘strike’ is got by first
passing the scrupulous ly clean item through a very dilute solution
of mercuric nitrate in distilled water. But, if you try this, please
look after your nervous s ystem. We don’t want you to end up either
dead or ‘mad as a hatter’.
David Kelsall