How to oxidize 925 evenly?

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi everyone,

Could you please share some info about how to oxidize the outside and
the shank of a deeply domed sterling silver ring? I have Jax Silver
Blackener, and Millox. I find neither give me an even nice finish,
but rather I end up with patchy bits, with some darker and some
lighter areas. I’d really appreciate some suggestions. And how do I
give it a nice finish? I read so mewhere that a bit of oil should be
used after it’s been blackened. True?

Thank you all :slight_smile:
Eva

2 
Could you please share some info about how to oxidize the outside
and the shank of a deeply domed sterling silver ring?

Using pumice powder and a brass brush will clean and prep the surface
for oxidation. I use Fast Orange, a hand cleaner for mechanics, a
thick gel cleaning product with pumice and degreaser. If I oxidize a
piece and I am not happy witht he results, I reclean the piece with
the Fast Orange and brass brush and I get better results.

Richard Hart G.G.
Denver, Co.

3

hi eva,

i use Liver of Sulfur in Gel Form to oxidise my jewellery. i add
just a little bit into hot water and then add the pieces, checking
the status, as i have learned, that if i leave it in for too long it
starts to “peel off” on some places and that looks patchy. i always
clean and tumbler the piece before i oxidise, to make sure there is
nothing on the surface that would stop the liver of sulfur to get to
the silver surface.

once i have nice deep grey color i take the piece out and wash in
clean water, to give it a nice shine i either put it in tumble for
about 3 minutes or i just dip it into baking soda powder and rub the
surface with the powder a bit, which gives the piece very nice deep
black shiny finish.

you can then with fine sand paper sand a bit off, just to show the
contrast between silver and oxidisation. hope it helps,

have fun making jewellery,
.t
www.3kisses.sk

4 
Could you please share some info about how to oxidize the outside
and the shank of a deeply domed sterling silver ring?

After polishing, I clean well in an ultrasonic and steam, then place
the item in an appropriate sized beaker and fill to cover with
Griffith SILVER/BLACK (Grobet).

Then I take it out and rinse it off and pour the chemical back into
the bottle.

Then I put the piece into a rotary tumbler with clean soap solution
and steel shot (I don’t have stainless steel but I don’t guess it
matters) and let it spin for a few hours. Perfect!

5

Dear Eva:

  1. Make sure the area to be oxidized is THOROUGHLY clean.

  2. Good patinas should be built up gradually. As you have already
    seen, fast, heavy patinas do not form a good bond and will peel off.

  3. I heat both the object and the liver of sulfur with a hairdryer
    (!). This speeds up the process a bit without getting it so hot that
    you get a bad bond.

  4. When it looks like it won’t get any darker, I rinse and then go
    over the oxidized part lightly with a glass brush. This in effect
    removes any bits that are not well-bonded, and it leaves an even
    color.

I keep repeating the above process (darkening and glass-brushing)
until the desired darkness of gray/black is achieved. If you want a
totally matt dark surface, skip the glass brush on the final round
and just clean with soap and brush. If you finish with the glass
brush, you get a beautiful sheen. You could polish it lightly if you
want a real shine, but usually we oxidize for contrast, so the sheen
is ‘more appropriate’ (in that regard) than a shine.

The distinctive points of my post are: hairdryer and glass
brush…:-)…

Janet in Jerusalem

6

Hi Janet in Jerusalem,

Thank you very much for your clear, easy to understand and well
detailed suggestions. I have never heard of glass brush, and don’t
know where to get it, but I’ll investigate here in Melbourne from our
jewellery suppliers. And I shall try your suggestions straight away.

Toda ve toda raba!
Eva