Problems with silver nitrate!!

[Pushthatbolder]

Does silver nitrate turn skin black.??

 

[Buzz]

Yes, for about a week.

Always wear gloves when around Silver Nitrate!

Buzz

 

[Cody Reeder]

silver nitrate is pesky stuff, it stains almost everything and is quite indelible. (nothing will remove it) in the case of skin it reacts with halides (salt) to form in soluble silver salts (silver cloride) which is initialy white but turns dark with light exposure. sometimes you can get it on you and not know it untill you go out into the sun. the best way that I have found to get it off your skin is to use sand paper. but I dont worry too much about it though because it doesnt soak very far into the skin.

 

[Harold_V]

silver nitrate is pesky stuff, it stains almost everything and is quite indelible. (nothing will remove it)

Cyanide will, but it's not exactly a recommended process.

Harold

 

[stihl88]

The best Ive found is to soak and scrub it in household Bleach for 5 minutes, a Stainless Steel scourer helps also.
Ive got some on both my hands as a result of playing around with my new Silver Cell, I'll attack it with Bleach tomorrow.
If you don't mind the Bleach smell then use Bleach.

 

[Cody Reeder]

Cyanide will, but it's not exactly a recommended process.

hey, I haven thought of cyanide. I think I will use it next time I stain something, proably not if its myself though.

 

[Harold_V]

I used it to clean my hands and other stained things if I had some in use. I used it only infrequently. You have to be careful, for it can be absorbed through cuts. Never had any problems with healthy skin, however.

Harold

 

[patnor1011]

I used it to clean my hands and other stained things if I had some in use. I used it only infrequently. You have to be careful, for it can be absorbed through cuts. Never had any problems with healthy skin, however.

Harold

I cant help but thinking about cyanide for cleaning hands is like doing barbecue in US Steel foundry :mrgreen: (thats joke of course)

Jezus I will rather spend rest of my life with black hands than I even try to use it... LOL (my problem is that my hands are constantly being cut, sliced, minced mainly when salvaging copper

 

[Harold_V]

Truth be known, the longer I worked at refining, the less I found my hands stained. I got very good about wearing gloves, and had the good fortune to find a type that was well suited to the task. I could get about three weeks of wear from a pair of gloves that cost me just over $2.00 per pair. Do remember---I refined on a full time basis--and spent about twelve hours daily in the lab. Gloves were incinerated when they ruptured. They were stained. My hands were not.

Harold

 

[Cody Reeder]

I used it to clean my hands and other stained things if I had some in use. I used it only infrequently. You have to be careful, for it can be absorbed through cuts. Never had any problems with healthy skin, however.

Harold

well I have gotten cyanide on my hands several times and oviously it hasnt killed me, of course I wash it off right away. I always thought that cyanide being a base absorbes through the skin, but I guess that its not a strong base and might be pretty slow. do you have to let the cyanide soak into the skin to remove the silver? or does it wash the silver right off?

I do have some black nitrate spots on my arm right now, mayby I will try it out.

 

[Cody Reeder]

I dabed on a cyanide solution with a cotton swab and it took them right off!

 

[Harold_V]

I dabed on a cyanide solution with a cotton swab and it took them right off!

I used to use a little on a rag, much as you did. It doesn't take much, although it can be a little slow to dissolve. That's what happens---you dissolve the silver (or gold).

Harold

 

[Oz]

I dabed on a cyanide solution with a cotton swab and it took them right off!

Did you save your "waste" solution for recovery :lol:

 

[babytrilly]

You can rub the dark spots on your skin with a cotton ball dipped in acetone. It works best with "older" silver nitrate skin stains.