Good morning Orchidland
My pickle pot running on 12 years now is a garage sale find of
$2.00!!! A good ole crock pot it has 2 setting and so I don’t
forget to turn it off at night I have it plugged into a $4.00 light
timer no pitted joints hot pots in the am. I don’t even have to
remember to turn it on in the am before I start the days bench work.
Robin
Hey charlotte, I’m in a similar position. Keep your pickle solution
in a jam jar and when you need to pickle pieces just fill a pan with
warm water, put your jar in the pan and your pan on the hob. Be sure
to keep it on the the lowest heat (otherwise your jar will break)
Good luck!
Laura
London
Hi Charlotte
I have been using a small crock pot for about 20 years to heat
pickle. These are cheap (I just replaced my original and only paid $7
for one at Target) and they work very well. This newest one has low,
high, warm and off settings. If you can, get one with a plastic lid
since the pickle will affect any metal with which it comes in
contact.
Judy Keller
Hello Charlotte,
If you search the archives, you’ll find that most of us use an
inexpensive crock pot/slow cooker with a ceramic pot and all-glass
lid. I’ve also used a potpourri warmer, which looks like a
mini-crock pot. If your work is fairly small, consider a ceramic mug
and mug warmer. In a pinch, a glass plate will work as a cover on
the pot.
These items can usually be found at yard sales and second-hand
stores like Goodwill for cheap. You may have a relative who will
donate one to you. Be sure that there is NO METAL in the pot or lid,
for it can contaminate your pickle.
While I’m at it, may I encourage you to use citric acid pickle. It’s
safer and isn’t ruined if you make an error and put steel tongs into
the solution.
Glad to see some young blood interested in becoming a precious
metalsmith.
Judy in Kansas
Charlotte
Use a crock pot. I have been using the same one for about 10 years
Regards
Milt
There was a brief mention of what the crock pot’s lid is made of,
but since I actually needed this spelled out for me (and I think the
thanks go to Ms. Rourke for this), I’ll spare you my grief – make
sure there’s no metal anywhere on the lid. No bolt holding a knob on
to it, no metal edge around it, no metal whatsoever. If there is any
metal, and you do any work with copper, you’ll end up copper-plating
things you didn’t plan to copper-plate.
It should be mentioned that I ended up with a very cool-looking
piece because of that, I call it “The Happy Accident”, but I also
absolutely fried a piece of silver filigree.
Lauren
Hi Charlotte ! At my night school jewellery class we have our pickel
in a pyrex container inside an old electric frypan. You put a little
water in the bottom of the pan to stop too much heat on the pyrex,
works great !!
Philip from NZ
Charlotte, go to the Salvation Army store or a garage sale or a
rummage sale and look for a crockpot with a ceramic liner and use
that. OR, at the same sources, buy a Corningware or other brand
heatable glass cakepan (etc.) or glass electric frypan and use that.
With the cakepan, you’ll also have to buy something to heat with –
perhaps a hostess tray or an electric hotplate. Just make sure these
heat sources have dials so that you can set them to heat very gently.
You never want to boil the pickle.
The advantage of the cakepan or frypan is that they’ll hold larger
items (like bracelet blanks). The disadvantage can be that they may
not have covers (to keep the heat in and to keep the pickle from
evaporating in between times).
Have fun!
Judy Bjorkman
Also, as I stated previously, one could use their ultrasonic to
remove the “crust” and etc. from a piece. Very quickly I might add.
The ultrasonic should be hot also but it works fine!
Good luck,
Steve
Hi Charlotte,
I use a mini crock pot. Mine was about $20 from Rio Grande, but they
can be found in places that sell regular crock pots. I’ve had mine
for about 5 years.
best,
Kimberly Nogueira
www.florencegirl.etsy.com
The pickle setup I use is cheap, easy and best of all non-toxic. Alum
is readily available at most pharmacies and pickles silver and gold
wonderfully and quickly. It is also used to make pickles crispy and
those little sticks you dab shaving nicks and cuts with. It so safe
you can get it all over your hands no problem and there are no
noxious fumes. To store and keep warm I use a little gravy crock-pot.
The one I use was found at the local hardware store for 10 or so
bucks.
I simply put about 3 heaping tablespoons in to some boiling hot
water, plugit in and I have hot pickle any time I need it.
The alum is also recyclable. When the water in the solution has
evaporated off the alum will re-crystalize. The green ones are
played out and can be thrown away and the white ones are ready for
more boiling water to pickle with again.
The whole setup cost me $13 and has been tried and true for 6 years.
Hope this helps, Eclipse
Judith,
I have to concur that I really like the citric acid pickle. I just
mixed a fresh brew and as long as it is very warm (I use a pint size
crock pot) and it works great!
Monica
www.deliasdelightjewelry.com
Hi there
Another low cost soloution is to get a non-coroding container (lined
metal, glass, plastic) that has a lid, make a little stand for it out
of whatever is handy and then mount a light bulb under it as a heat
source. I do this when I am making things too big to fit in my
standard pickle pot. Use the bulb’s wattage to control the temp, 40W
would more than run a litre or two of pickle. You can make these
quite sofiticated if you feel so inclined, or as primitve as you like
(I got the idea from “Silversmithing” a book whose authors I have
forgotten the names of, who make up a lead container propped on metal
and wood, supported on sand. My version is an old beer brewing
plastic container propped on a big coil of binding wire) Obvioulsy,
using energy saving bulbs would not work…
My solution is really low-tech. I don’t need to pickle often enough
to keep a crock pot full of acid around 24/7, and I really don’t
have a good spot for one anyway. So when I do need to pickle, I head
to the kitchen. I keep a Nalgene bottle of PH DOWN there, and I just
pour some into one of two Pyrex dishes I have, cover with a small
glass cutting board, and heat on the gas burner for a minute or so.
Turn off, let stand, pour pickle back into the jar, rinse piece and
dish- voila! Not very professional-sounding, I know, but it works,
and my wife doesn’t seem to mind. But, ironically, the cost of the
dishes was way more than a cheap crock pot, although they could be
garage sale items too. And, for sure, there are times and projects
where this method is not so convenient.
Allan
My travel pickle unit is a used coffee cup warmer with a Pyrex lab
flask (about 500 ml) from American Science and Surplus catalog with
a plastic margarine lid.
Donna in VA
For small items, I use a butter warmer! They consist of a white
ceramic ramekin in its own little stand with a candle below. Just the
right amount of heat. Improvised cover. They usually come in sets of
two. This way I can have it right on my workbench without the mess of
electrical wires and having to be near an outlet. For larger items I
use a food warmer–a sort of raised trivet with a candle under it.
Janet in Jerusalem
I keep pickle warm in a Pyrex jug on the base of an inexpensive
filter coffee maker whose jug was broken.
Larry Bima
I use an old crock pot for my pickle pot, set at low heat. As a
matter of fact it has even saved me on pickle costs, because I don’t
often turn it on. If I am just working on a few pieces, I can
usually get away with popping them into the pot while I work on the
next item. It cleans, I dip the item in a baking soda solution and
rinse it well, and POOF, one down, next to go. If something is
heavily soiled I will switch the pot on until it is warm, but it is a
great and inexpensive solution to a formal “pickle pot”. When I was
still a student and did not have to change my pickle out regularly
due to much less use, I would say that it had the same solution in it
for more than three years. (Rio Grand sells smaller containers of dry
pickling solution) I am still using that first container of mix that
I purchased. If the solution gets too weak, I can usually get away
with adding a tablespoon more of the crystals and add more water. No
need to waste what is already in the pot!
another option I’ve found is one of these electric coffee
warmers…miniature “hot” plates for keeping your coffee warm…and
an old coffee cup.
Jeanne
jeannius.com
Instead of ordering up the standard pickle pot use a crock pot… they
are cheap and work great… maybe someone already suggested that. When
I was learning the trade from a master jeweler he used a coffee mug
with a light bulb next to it… ha ha… I don’t profess that at this
time…
Russ Hyder
http://www.thejewelrycadinstitute.com