Gold Plating

My fork tines are again beginning to show the blueing we previously
discussed so I guess my quick fix with the pickle was just a flash in
the pan.

My next attempt will be to "temper" the tines. I am thinking just
enough heat to almost get to the "straw color" and then cool. Quench
or air cool will have to be determined.

On a related topic and the subject of this posting...

All of my jewelery that I have gold plated suffer from tarnish of the
silver bleed through and need regular polishing to look good.

My gold plating has been the dip and wear, acid hobby method. Works
great and looks great for a while but the solution has a very short
shelf life. Once the bottle is opened even if only half is used, it
becomes useless within a couple of months. I even tried using a piece
of sacrificial gold as anode/cathode and this did not help.

So I am thinking of making a leap into the professional method and
need to do some research on the subject but the basic question is, and
I think I asked this already but that was a long time ago.... is this
something that one ought to be doing in the home. We read often
enough about people dieing in plating plants.

js