New problem hellllpp

[bustagasket]

Having sorted out the chain blackness on the "just polished" sections i have a new problem with the clasp sections.

I soldered the links on these later than the others so they went into the pickle later.

Now as i have said before, i have a brain like a sieve and an incredible bad memory, and i forgot to take them out. Everytime i remembered, i was out driving or i was at work, and so this morning i finally remembered when i was near to home, - coming back from doing the grocery shop. I walked in chanting "pickle, pickle" to myself and went into Kurts old room to get them out.

I took off the lid to find that the pickle solution had virtually evaporated away, and so my poor clasp sections were in about a mm of water with crystalised pickle all around it.

They are black. You would never believe the clasps are sterling, and i didnt know what to do.

I made up a fresh batch of pickle and have put them back in it, but I dont know if they are beyond recovery now or if it is even possible to recover them

I would dearly love your advise, although i doubt that anyone has done anything quite as stupid as this themselves. But any help would be greatly appreciated.


:confused::confused:

[ps_bond]

If the new pickle doesn't shift that black - and I suspect it won't - flux the thing, anneal it and then pickle it. It'll probably need more aggressive polishing afterwards too. Would probably be worth testing your solder joints too, they may have been weakened by the pickle.

Of course I've never forgotten anything in the pickle pot... :rolleyes: #-o

[bustagasket]

peter, i know the word annealing, but just in case - how would i go about doing it in this case?

[ps_bond]

Heat the entire thing to a dull red in a darkened area. Nowhere near as high as soldering temperatures! Allow the colour to fade, then quench in water.

[caroleallen]

When that happens to me I use a radial brush on my pendant drill and it comes off. You could try a brass brush if you don't have a pendant drill. It is a pain though to get it off a chain. Good luck!

[bustagasket]

just had a look and one clasp appears to be recovering but the other is still not good and the chain is still off. I may have to make up two more :(

[bustagasket]

i have turned the pickle off for the night lol

[bustagasket]

well i just went and fetched it out of the pickle and got out my brass brush and me fairy washing up liquid. One section was white the other black lol. So i attacked the white one first - that came back quite quick, and then i started on the black one, it didnt seem to be responding at first and then i suddenly saw a little glint from a bit of the chain so i persevered and its back! Thank you so much i would have given up on them but instead i can now finish this set today :D

[CyberPaddy66]

Heat the entire thing to a dull red in a darkened area. Nowhere near as high as soldering temperatures! Allow the colour to fade, then quench in water.

Sorry to pull you up on your terminology but quenching hot metals in water is hardening not annealing them, letting them cool down slowly allows the atoms in the metal form a loose structure thus making the metal softer, quenching them in water makes the atoms bunch together and stick making the metal harder.

Hope that helps :D

[bustagasket]

okies thank you, you will soon realise i have an awful lot to learn lol, but i am learning something new everyday with the help of my cookies :D

[CyberPaddy66]

Not a problem, I've been working with metals for the best part of 20 years and I'm still learning things every day :(|

[bustagasket]

I been working with them since April 28th 2009 lmao

[CyberPaddy66]

Most of my metalwork as been of the vehicle repair and cabinet making kind when I was a Mechanic and then a Sheet Metal Worker, if I'd known about the MUCH EASIER to work with precious metals years ago I'd be a different person today and I wouldn't have met my OH so it's not all bad :Y:

[ps_bond]

Sorry to pull you up on your terminology but quenching hot metals in water is hardening not annealing them, letting them cool down slowly allows the atoms in the metal form a loose structure thus making the metal softer, quenching them in water makes the atoms bunch together and stick making the metal harder.

By all means pull me up on my terminology when I'm wrong. What you have just described is one process for hardening ferrous metals; this does not apply for most non-ferrous. Yes, I know it sounds counter-intuitive when that's what you're used to, but there is no significant practical advantage to a slow ramping down of the metal's temperature for copper-based alloys (amongst others).

Don't just take my word for it though - try it on 2 samples of copper. Work harden both by, for example, planishing; then heat both to their critical temperature - quench one, allow the other to cool to ambient insulated by something like ceramic blanket. You'll see very little difference in the resulting hardness.

If you *really* want a full-on materials science lecture I can do, but I'll probably fall asleep whilst writing it... :D

[Matp85]

you could try heating it up then putting it in the pickle but be careful the fumes are poisonous. so this is usually done at the end of the day and with some ventilation!