This is a warning and a question in one:
I used to do all my silver antiquing at the kitchen sink and
never had any of the stuff in my garage workshop. I thought I’d
be a little more efficient, and started doing touch-ups at my
bench, with q-tips, followed by rinsing in a bowl of water and
buffing on the wheel. I always carefully closed the bottle of
the nasty yellow stuff, and thought I was safe. I neglected
however, to dispose of the q-tips, and left a few of the used
ones on my bench in a paper cup. I was away for a week, and tdo
my dismay when I return, all of the bits of chain, silver scraps,
and every unfinished project on the bench, (I have a particularly
untidy bench area, jammed with all kinds of half-done things,
scraps, etc.) -all of them were not black, but were sickenlingly
dull greyish-brown. . In 14 years, this had never happened, so
I’m assuming it was from latent fumes.
I know the real answer is to tidy up, and put everything away,
but that’s really against my nature, and I’ll bet quite a few of
you are like me. So you know that an uncluttered bench will
greatly reduce my creativity!! So, the yellow stuff is back in
the kitchen, and the brushes, q-tips, etc. are rinsed or disposed
of immediatley.
Question- what can I do with all the discolored chain? I can’t
polish it off, and Tarnex, etc. hasn’t helped. I’d hate to have
to melt it down.
Anothjer question- I left some pieces in relatively old pickle,
(Sparex) for about 1 1/2 hours, and it turned this dark grey,
dull color. What is that from, and how can I fix it. It, too,
won’t polish off.
Thanks everyone,
Ruth