Pickled to death

[WitchfordSilver]

How long did you leave them in the pickle? I often leave things in for a few days with no ill effects. I never put anything other than silver in the pickle.


May be someone can explain what the black coating is.

Neil

[caroleallen]

They were in there for a couple of days. Stupid of me I know but I had students in and I was so busy sorting out their stuff, I forgot about mine. I think the pickle was quite old and that's why it happened.

[Solunar Silver Studio]

We really could do with a proper chemist to look at this and give a considered answer. I've been having a scout around and there is no definitive answer that I can see. I found out a lot about copper...and it's electron shells...and why it is pink in it's natural state. I've found that cupric and cuprous oxide are different - one is black and one is red - so that might be involved somehow. I've also found out some good info on pickle and environmentally friendly alternatives which I'll put on here for anyone that is interested. but I've found nothing to answer your question as to why this happens. All I can say is that you are not alone....there are quite a few 'Why did my silver go black in pickle' questions floating around the net....

i dream i can fly: organic jewelry pickle
Bario-Neal - Research Blog » 2009 » July
Citric Pickle

[caroleallen]

Very good articles Bee. One question, is baking soda the same as bicarb?

[Solunar Silver Studio]

Sure is! Sodium bicarbonate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[EmmaRose]

Its happened to my stuff too, and I don't ever have copper in there, must be residue from silver alloy or something.....
E

[Solunar Silver Studio]

There is 7.5% copper in sterling silver and Argentium silver

[lorraineflee]

I can actually remember saying as much to our chemistry teacher. I went to an all girls grammar and he was the only male on the premises, apart from the groundsman (another story ).

Mr Brown, the chem teacher, yelled at me one day when I wasn't paying attention and I actually asked him what use his lessons would be to me when I was buying the Sunday joint of meat.

It was the 1960's and liberation hadn't hit Dunstable yet

Did you go to school in Dunstable or was it Luton High School for Girls - seem to remember we only had one male teacher during the late 50's early 60's there too.

[Di Sandland]

Queen Eleanors School For Girls, Dunstable. Colloquially known as Quellies.

[Boo]

There is 7.5% copper in sterling silver and Argentium silver

Indeed and it's this that causes the firescale that you need to pickle for in the first place. So even working exclusively with silver will deposit copper in the pickle. It just happens appreciably faster with copper pieces.