Help! My pickle is turning my annealed silver black! What is causing
it? How do I get rid of it? I tried buffing with a polishing cloth,
then I tried sunshine cloth, nothing! I also tried cleaning the
silver with a silver cleaner, nothing! What could it be?
Rachael
sounds like your pickle is worn out. what type are you using? silver
turns black when you anneal it or torch it due to oxidation. If you
let it air cool it will turn black. so, my guess is not any acid in
your pickle to eat away the oxidation. curious to know what others
have to say. Love to learn new things.
Hi Racheal,
You may have discovered the perfect silver blackener! If you find
the culprit, do let us know. Is the pickle sulphuric acid? If it is,
do you know that iron or steel is not to touch the pickle while
pickling? Sometimes a jump ring on a bracelet is chrome plated, or
iron, and if not noticed will cause a reaction where copper is
deposited on all the silver in the pickle. Clasps with springs inside
will also do this, clasps must be kept out the acid because not only
do they cause the reaction, the acid is also dissolving the steel
spring. If a lot of iron has been dissolved, the copper deposit may
turn black. You could also have contaminated the pickle by pickling
something with chrome, nickle, lead, tin, or some other base metal,
which is now plating or depositing onto the silver. Other
possibilities are: your silver is 800 or less, which can blacken in
pickle; or the pickle is too strong which can happen when the water
evoporates, the acid will only evaporate after all the water is gone
and is then dangerously concentrated. If this happens, add the acid
to the water, water as cold as possible, with great care and wearing
eyegoggles. Try fresh new pickle and only allow gold (9ct+) or silver
(925+) to go into it.
Regards, Alastair
Hi Racheal,
How to get rid of the black on your silver? I would try one of these
if practical: heat again to annealing temperature and pickle in new
pickle; strip by reverse electroplating in a stripping bath; sanding
and polishing may be needed after stripping or as a remedy by itself.
Good luck! Alastair
Hello Rachael,
I think your problem is contaminated pickle. You want to make sure
that you’re not storing the pickle in a container that could have
metal in it… like a metal lid. You probably know that you cannot
use any metal but copper for tongs. Binding wire (unless it’s
stainless) is another culprit.
You should be able to buff off the black, but I’d try just
re-heating as in annealing or using some of the metal for soldering
and see if the black is eliminated by the heat and fresh hot pickle.
Judy in Kansas
Thanks everyone! Judy, I think you may have solved my problem. I am
storing the pickle in an old jelly jar, naturally it has a metal
lid! But I think I did contaminate it…I think I stuck my pliers in
the pickle to pick out a piece with out thinking… Thanks!
Rachael
OMG I’m looking for a way to keep my silver permanently black in certain areas…Is it the contamination of steel that will create a pickle solution that I can paint on and have certain parts be black forever without wearing off…???
The most permanent way to make it stay black is with powder coating. I’ve also used an indirect process. Coat your piece in copper with contaminated pickle, then use the coatings from Sculpt Nouveau to get the color you want. Copper stays black longer than silver with LOS. You obviously remove the copper from the parts you don’t want black. Judy
I first started using Sparex as a pickle (sodium acid sulfate).. Saniflush had the same ingredient at 1/10th the cost. I used Saniflush with the same good results, until the formula was changed to non toxic ingredients. The product then disappeared. Sulfuric acid is a good substitute. Both are extremely sensitive to iron contamination. “pinking the pickle” happened when even a touch of iron was added to the solultion. Silver is “pinked” when a slight pink color apppeared on silver, It darkens as more iron is added. Instead of using stainless steel tongs, I made brass pincers instead by using flat brass stock. Sulfuric acid will turn blue as sterling has copper in it. Blue pickle has to be replaced by fresh pickle when the color turns a deep blue. Any iron in trace amounts will pink sulfric acid or sodium acid sulfate. Iron binding wire for soldering must be removed before pickling. Contact with tongs or pinchers made of stainless steel will also contaminated the pickle solution. As more iron builds up in the solution, a pink color will darken to black. Ferric sulfate is the blackening agent. Avoid any ferrous materail.
LOS powder dissolved in water creates a paintable solution that works very well. A dilute solution will darken silver. another application will darken further. a stronger solution will blacken silver immediately. The product “Silver Black” uses Tellurium with hydrochloric acid. This solution is toxic and gives off fumes. LOS solution is more controllable. I would recommend sticking to LOS. If wearing off is a problem. just thicken the surface by repainting a second or third time to build up the thickness of silver sulfide. Oxidizing solutions such as Silver Black will also wear off. Silver oxide is less stable than silver sulfide.
WOW thanks for the science lecture! Will definitely take this into consideration!
I’ve used LOS is a mildly dilute solution to paint on areas that I want black. Using a fine tipped artist’s brush work well as the painting can be controlled. Paint on evenly and wait. The silver will turn brown at first application. Once dry, a second coat will blacken completely. A third coat may not be necessary. The blackened area can be lightly buffed with a soft cotton wheel to even out surface irregularities and give it some shine.. Buffing too much will remove some of the blackening. LOS is unstable to light and air. Keep dry and tightly closed in the can it came in. Only a small amount is necessary to create a solution… 1/8 to 1/4 tps is enough. slowly add water to dissolve compelely. Experiment first on scrap. Add less or more water to check the results.
And one last tip…. After you have gotten the oxidation you want, put a thin coat of Renaissance Wax or Meguiar’s Wax on the oxidized places. It will darken the oxidation a sharper/darker black and protect it as well.