Removing lead from silver

Hi all,

I have a small silver jug which has been extensively lead soldered.
I wonder if any of you have any experience of removing lead from
silver. I need to remove every trace before I can silver solder the
jug back together.

Richard Whitehouse
Silversmith & Jeweller

Hydrochloric acid. It’s by far the best way - not reagent grade, not
too dilute. We use muriatic acid (commercial grade HCl) starting at
34.5%, and I might dilute that by 25-50%, depending on the job. It
will get every last trace of lead - also tin and other base metals,
and won’t affect the silver at all. Leave it at least several hours,
preferably overnight. I’ve heard some other things, mostly homemade
stuff, but if you want to do it right, use HCl. Also does broken
drill
bits…

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com

Richard,

I have a small silver jug which has been extensively lead 
soldered. 

I wonder if any of you have any experience of removing lead from
silver. I need to remove every trace before I can silver solder the
jug back together.

You can use a coarse wire brush on the flexshaft. It gouges out the
lead at a faster rate than the silver. To test if you got it all off,
heat the jug, you’ll see any remaining lead get shiny.

Wear a dust mask of some sort. the grindings can shoot straight at
your face.