kurtak
Well-known member
High All
First of all I want to say I am sorry that since I made my moved from Wisconsin to Oregon I have just been to busy settling in to my new home here in Oregon to post on the forum like I used to --- however I do log in to the forum "everyday" to read the latest & greatest discussions taking place here 8) :mrgreen:
That said - one of the things I have been working on here at my new home is making sterling silver Jewelry out of my stash of 925
Part of the process in making the jewelry is annealing the 925 (the larger pieces like rings' bracelet's etc.) in order to make the bends &/or stamp designs in it
In the annealing process the heat brings a black copper oxide (fire scale) to the surface which is eliminated with dilute sulfuric acid pickling - after removing the fire scale I am left with a dull "silver" surface - which is then buffed out to a "high" mirror shine with my bench buffers - so no problems with cleaning up the larger pieces
However - when making small pieces such as ear rings, pendants or attaching clasp's to chains I run into the same problem of fire scale followed by the "dull" silver after pickling in the dilute sulfuric as a result of soldering things like jump rings when attaching a clasp to a chain or a post to an ear ring
The problem is that these pieces are just to small &/or fragile to buff out to the high mirror shine with a high speed bench buffer
So the question is --- how do the professional jewelers get the mirror finish back to the silver after soldering these "small" pieces
I have attached a pic which is not the best due to lighting - but as you can see the piece on the top left has such a mirror finish it glares from the lighting after buffing while the piece on the right has the dull silver color after pickling but before buffing - the same with the jump rings - the three on the left that have not been soldered have a high shine - while the ones on the right are dull after soldering & then pickling to remove the fire scale
I still love this forum & the members I have come to know over the years as valued friends - I just don't (at this time) have time to post like I used to
Kurt
First of all I want to say I am sorry that since I made my moved from Wisconsin to Oregon I have just been to busy settling in to my new home here in Oregon to post on the forum like I used to --- however I do log in to the forum "everyday" to read the latest & greatest discussions taking place here 8) :mrgreen:
That said - one of the things I have been working on here at my new home is making sterling silver Jewelry out of my stash of 925
Part of the process in making the jewelry is annealing the 925 (the larger pieces like rings' bracelet's etc.) in order to make the bends &/or stamp designs in it
In the annealing process the heat brings a black copper oxide (fire scale) to the surface which is eliminated with dilute sulfuric acid pickling - after removing the fire scale I am left with a dull "silver" surface - which is then buffed out to a "high" mirror shine with my bench buffers - so no problems with cleaning up the larger pieces
However - when making small pieces such as ear rings, pendants or attaching clasp's to chains I run into the same problem of fire scale followed by the "dull" silver after pickling in the dilute sulfuric as a result of soldering things like jump rings when attaching a clasp to a chain or a post to an ear ring
The problem is that these pieces are just to small &/or fragile to buff out to the high mirror shine with a high speed bench buffer
So the question is --- how do the professional jewelers get the mirror finish back to the silver after soldering these "small" pieces
I have attached a pic which is not the best due to lighting - but as you can see the piece on the top left has such a mirror finish it glares from the lighting after buffing while the piece on the right has the dull silver color after pickling but before buffing - the same with the jump rings - the three on the left that have not been soldered have a high shine - while the ones on the right are dull after soldering & then pickling to remove the fire scale
I still love this forum & the members I have come to know over the years as valued friends - I just don't (at this time) have time to post like I used to
Kurt