Jewellery Pickle Comparison and Test (aka, The Great British Pickle Off)

The question of pickling jewellery seems to come up quite a lot. What can I use as pickle? What's the best?

Short answer is that any acid will work to "pickle" (to remove oxides from after heating) copper or silver. Longer answer is that some acids are more effective, quicker, than others.

Much longer answer is this video in which I test vinegar, citric acid, sodium bisulphate (aka pH down aka safety pickle) and phosphoric acid against each other.

For some reason Blogger embeds video at tiny size, so if you'd prefer then click here to watch on YouTube.


Comments

  1. Kine18 August 2017 at 19:07

    Nice comparison! I can't use the phosphoric acid one because it triggers asthma... and I use most of the time a vinegar and salt (without iodine) solution. If I want to boost it, I add a dash of hydrogen peroxyde... it's amazing!

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