Water stains in silver depletion

Jewelry Discussion
1

I’ve never seriously done Silver depletion As a final finish and chose to do it for a particular piece because of difficulty in getting in right spaces to finish as well as to cover black fire scale. I’m having a rough time getting a nice even silvery sheen. I am getting some yellowing in tight crevices that I assume is from water not absorbed away. (I didn’t want to rub last time to keep finish pure w no light scratches).

  1. How do I get rid of and not get these yellow stains?
  2. I’ve depleted 14 times. Can you deplete too much?
  3. Will the pin back be weaker not that it has been depleted along with the rest of the pin?
    Thx!

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2

If its water stains you could try using deionized water for rinsing and steaming. Or try evenly heating the piece in a burnout oven to burn off contaminants. Or try soaking in a lite acid or even cyanide.

3

thx! Switching type of water for the future makes sense
Judy