I am new to sterling chain making, and am still in the process of
trying to purchase everything I need for the craft. One thing I am
having problems with is deciding what to use for pickling. I have
seen quite a few different threads on your site on the subject
already, but the only one that actually had a “recipe” was for the
citric acid pickle. I have no clue what I am doing yet. I have a
book that I am using (‘Making Silver Chains: Simple Techniques,
Beautiful Designs’ by Glen F. Waszek), and for pickling, all has on
the supply list is “pickle granules”. It later says that when mixed
with water, the granules form a sulfuric acid or similar solution.
That’s it. Nothing else about what to use. I have two small children
(2 and 4), and animals, so I need to know what would be the safest
and easiest to use around them. Easiest meaning easiest for
preparation, least amount of pickling time required, and readily
available. I live in a VERY small city, and the closest findings
store is in Seattle, which is 100 miles south of here. I bought PH
Decreaser at WalMart, but then saw that one of the threads about it
said that it should be the dry acid formula, which is 95% Sodium
Bisulfate, and what I had mentioned nothing about dry acid, and was
only 5% Sodium Bisulfate. WalMart does sell PH Minus in HUGE
containers very reasonably priced, but I don’t know how well it
works, or how to mix it for use. So I would REALLY appreciate it if
everyone would give me their opinion on what would be the best thing
to use (with kids & animals), works best, is low cost, and most of
all, RECIPES!!! As long as the chemicals used for the pickling
doesn’t produce a lot of toxic fumes, I would be interested in the
recipe just in case the safest items to use are not available in my
area. Oh–also, I bought the least expensive crock pot that WalMart
had, which is only a 1.5 quart capacity. So it needs to be something
that will fit in that without overflowing and making a huge mess.
Thank you all sooooo much for your time!! I really do appreciate it.
Heather Plessner