Tweezers in Pickle

Hi …from Dubai, I know that steel binding wire, if left on when
pickling your silver work will cause it to be copper coated but, I
have just bought some (non magnetic) tweezers (I am assuming either
stainless steel or aluminium). Will these do the same as binding wire
if they are used to dunk my silver work in pickle and accidentally go
in the pickle as well ?

Thanks Paul Townsend

Hi Paul. I’ve been using stainless steel tweezers in my pickle (as
well as stainless steel binding wire) for years and years and never
had a problem. The process used to make stainless steel apparently
binds the iron so that it can’t separate out in the pickle and
contaminate it.

Beth

      Hi ...from Dubai, I know that steel binding wire, if left on
when pickling your silver work will cause it to be copper coated
but, I have just bought some (non magnetic) tweezers  (I am
assuming either stainless steel or aluminium). Will these do the
same as binding wire if they are used to dunk my silver work in
pickle and accidentally go in the pickle as well ? 

Stainless steel varies some in it’s resistance to pickle. the types
which can be hardened, often are a little affected by pickle, and if
you leave the tweezers in the pickle for more than a brief moment,
they’ll sometimes cause copper to start plating out. But not as fast
as carbon steel. If the stainless is the more corrosion resistant
types, like the 300 series types used in food grade stainless, then
you’ll find little plating out being caused. And of course, the
whole problem only exists if your pickle has been used long enough
that it’s got significant copper dissolved. If the pickle is new,
you can dissolve all the iron you want in there, and copper won’t
plate out, since there’s no copper. Another easy fix is to put non
conductive coatings on the tweezer tips, like a bit of nylon tube or
something. Then there’s no electrical contact between the silver and
the tweezer, so no electrolytic reaction can take place.

Peter

Hi Paul, Stainless steel won’t cause a plating reaction in pickle.
The binding wire I normally use is stainless steel so I can drop a
piece in the pickle with the wire in place. I can then examine the
cleaned piece to determine if it is properly soldered before
removing the wire. This saves having to re-wire it if is needs some
additional work.

I think I picked this tip up from one of Alan Revere’s videos. If
you haven’t seen them, I recommend them highly! They’re excellent!

All the best,
Dave
Dave Sebaste
Sebaste Studio and
Carolina Artisans’ Gallery
Charlotte, NC (USA)
dave@sebaste.com