crafts - Help Req: Pickling 925 silver ring with stone

On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 12:04:32 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry "mark"
wrote:

can anyone help
is it possible to pickle a ring set with a garnet stone
set in 22ct gold on a 925 silver ring
as I like the white look of silver after it has been pickled?
if so are there any stone's that can not be treated this way
many thanks

Mark

Hi Mark. I tried to send you the following reply via email. It bounced =
back as
undeliverable. If that email address you list is valid, you may wish to =
check
with your ISP as to why it bounced.

anyway...

Garnet will not be harmed by pickle. Some stones, though, are. This =
would
include peridot, which is unusual in the realm of what's normally =
facetted, in
that it is sensative to acids. Most other transparent stones are OK. Of=
the
other stones that cannot go in the pickle, it's usually the materials =
that are
some form of carbonate, such as calcites (things like marble, or pearls =
or shell
of any type,or similar acid sensative stones like rhodochrosite, =
malechite,
lapis lazuli, turqoise, etc. =20

Note that pickling itself won't change the silver's look, if it starts =
out clean
and bright. The matte white look you're probably referring to occurs =
after
soldering, when the silver has been oxidized to a black or dark grey dull
surface. The pickle removes the copper oxide, leaving the metal white, =
and the
matte surface that remains is because the oxidation that took place =
disrupted
the polished surface. If you pickle clean silver, it stay's that way, =
and
changes little at all.

Also, note that pickle, while it removes the dark oxides resulting from =
heat, to
leave that matte white look, usually has little effect on the dark =
antiquing one
finds on silver that's been sitting around, or that has been applied to =
finsihed
silver chemically. THAT black is not an oxide, but rather sulphides, and=
they
are not affected much by acid pickles.

In short, getting that matte white look on finished silver jewelry, =
without
being able to again heat it and oxidize it, is rather difficult. The =
closest
you're likely to get is a sandblast or bead blast finish, which would =
require
you to mask off the stone, and if you don't want the gold also blasted, =
then it
too. The closest I can actually suggest would be silver electroplating. =
If you
use a non-brightened silver plating solution, and leave it in for a =
while, the
surface will become much like that matte white you get from pickling. =
You'll
need to mask off any gold areas you don't want plated. Silver plating
solutions won't hurt your garnet, though if it's been glued in, the glue =
might
be degraded. I doubt that's the case, however.=20

If all you wish is nice clean white silver without antiquing, of course, =
any
black that's there is easily enough polished off, or if it's in recessed =
areas,
commercial tarnish removers such as "tarnex" or the like, will do the =
job,
leaving you with a white surface. But it won't be that matte, very white=
color
of a newly pickled-after-soldering surface. It will just be silver, with
whatever polish or finish was already on it.

Hope that helps.

Peter Rowe