Shinium - Brilliance by Design

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 .

I recently acquired a small bottle of EverBrite's ProtectaClear coating, a skin-safe, one part coating for metal jewellery. Supposed to be tough, hardwearing and so on, to keep metals safe from tarnish and oxidation and other damage. It's simple enough to use - a light, clear liquid which brushes on easily and dries fast - but does it work? Time to run some tests. I prepared a few bits of copper, as that tarnishes quickly and I have scraps kicking around my workshop. Also a chance to try out my new letter punches. Nice and clean, not 100% polished by hey - just a test, right? Fully degreased and prepped for coating. Coated and dry and ready to go. The zero band has no coating, the one a single coat, the two a double coat. Time to put these things through some punishment.   OK, top to bottom: A - On my keyring. Two days of being bashed around in my pocket with assorted bits of metal in close contact. B - Tied to my shoe. An afternoon ...