After much searching, I've finally found a recipe for pickle that's non-toxic, and actually works! For those of you non-silversmiths out there, in the silversmithing world pickle is used to remove the coating from silver (and other metals, I'm sure) after they're heated with a torch. It's a necessary part of the process. But for obvious reasons, I've never really been fond of having sulferic acid in my house.
I've tried other non-toxic pickle recipes, and they all seem to work veeeery slooooowly. This one, though, this one is fabulous. You take vinegar (just regular vinegar), heat it up in your pickle pot, and add table salt until the solution is saturated. That's it! As far as I can tell, it works just as fast as the standard pickle from Rio Grande. The only problem I've had so far is that it's a bit cloudy, so you kind of have to fish around for your pieces. I may have put too much salt in, though. We'll see if it clears up with use.
Now if only I can find an organic recipe for etching acid......
UPDATES: I've tried it heated up in the pickle pot now, and it's fantastic! It's actually faster than the standard pickle. I can see my pieces turning white as I'm setting them down. And it's not cloudy anymore, either. Fabulous!
A lovely silversmith named Kimberley Grasing tells me that the perfect ratio is 1 Tbsp salt for every 1 cup of vinegar. Thanks Kimberley!
This pickle works brilliantly on sterling silver, 14K white gold, and 14K rose gold, but I haven't had much luck with 14K yellow gold. I've had to hand-polish my yellow gold pieces to remove the firescale.
Be sure to check out my posts on oxidizing jewelry with eggs and polishing silver the organic way, too!
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21 comments:
Thankyou! I'll try this today. I'm so glad there are people like you out there experimenting.
I'm so glad you found it! The more people using non-toxic pickle the better. :)
I'm going to try it. I'm tired of buying so much from Rio Grand and paying shippingW!!! Vinegar and salt. Good!!!!
Ah, you guys are just making me so happy :) I actually have a nearly full container of Rio Grande pickle here that I have no intentions of using. I wonder if I can find someone local to take it...
I had heard about this and tried it... and it turned my silver black. It was very strangle. I use vinegar to clean off my castings (great for eating off the investment) and when I leave it in there long enough it does 'pickle' the metal to a nice white. I had heard that adding salt would make it better - I left my pieces in for about a day or so and they turned black! eep! Have you had any experience with this? I thought it was the strangest thing - I even tried it again with just some sheet silver and the same thing happened.
No, my pieces go lovely and white. I'm wondering if maybe there's some additive in the salt you're using that's reacting with the silver? Or with the container or your copper tongs? I just use plain old table salt in mine.
Hi there, came across this post via the metalsmiths in action blog- im curious about the ratio if salt to vinegar. is it just white vinegar? and could the other commenter have used iodised salt as opposed to plain table salt? final question is how does it last? ive been using ph decrease for spa pools as a pickle which has a reasonable life so long as it is used warm.
thanks. frances.
I'm using plain white vinegar (Albertson's store brand) and Morton's iodized salt. So it's not the iodization that's causing a problem. This pickle definitely works much better when hot. And it lasts quite well for me. I don't solder every day, and I've not really tracked how many days I get out of it, but I probably change it out every couple of months. It does tend to evaporate, and the salt crystallizes in fantastic structures around the edge of the pot. But I just top it off with vinegar and salt when I heat it and it toddles along nicely. I'd be interested to hear if anyone does have any thoughts on how it lasts compared to other pickles.
I've been considering switching to a different type of pickle lately, and I was looking into citric acid.
Have you tried citric acid and if so, how did it compare to the vinegar solution?
Kristin - I haven't tried citric acid myself, although I've read a bit about it and chatted with other silversmiths who have tried it. Apparently it works, but rather slowly. That's why I decided to go with this salt and vinegar pickle, which works very quickly. You should be able to find information about citric acid pickle on the web, though, or you can try chatting with other silversmiths who have tried it. Good luck!
Kristin - I've tried using citric acid. It is good, works well on silver and gold, however it is much slower than normal pickle (mine is from Rio) and doesn't work at all if used cold. Also, I found it much more expensive (I live in England and get it in my local pharmacy store) than Rio's pickle (that's with shipping and customs).
Does the vinegar and salt solution work on gold?
It works fairly well on gold, although more slowly than on silver. Sometimes I've had to sand off some parts - I think mostly the glassy stuff that forms when the flux is heated. I'd be really interested in hearing other peoples' experiences and suggestions with gold.
I am just a newbie in metal smithing, but I stumbled along this post and I am so glad you shared this. Would you happen to know how much vinegar to salt you are using? Its funny, I love dipping foods in vinegar and salt and eating it..yah I know wierd huh! Also do you just use a simple small crockpot at low or high heat? I appreciate your time..thanks so much!
I use a simple small crockpot (I think it's designed for dips) on whatever heat it has. I don't think it has more than one. I got mine from Rio Grande. If I had to guess I'd say I use 2-3 cups of vinegar and 3 or 4 tablespoons of salt. But really I just heat up the vinegar and then pour salt in, stir, and repeat until it stops absorbing salt.
I'll add vinegar and salt whenever it evaporates too much (when you cool the solution down you'll get these crazy salt crystalline structures around the edge of the pot). I only change the solution when it gets dirty, and then I neutralize it with baking soda before I dispose of it.
Oh, and leave the lid askew when you cool the solution, or the salt crystals will seal it on. It's a huge pain to get loose again!
oh wow this is such an awesome idea! I'm so paranoid about having anything toxic around. I will definitely have to try this out.
What's a safe way to dispose of the pickle that I have now?
Oh, I'm not sure on that, since I don't use the sulferic acid type. You definitely need to neutralize it (baking soda works well). Just keep adding baking soda a bit at a time until it no longer foams. And I know you're not supposed to put it down the drain. But I'm not sure how you can dispose of it. Sorry!
You're awesome! I have navigated the whole style of my work away from soldering just because I don't want to deal with chemicals. You have opened up a whole new world for me, and I thank you.
You're welcome. My goal is to help as many silversmiths go organic as I can. There's no point in hoarding those secrets - I'd rather have as big of an impact as possible on the environment. :)
I too had this weird blackening thing happen when I used vinegar and salt...I wish someone knew why it happens :-(. I would love to use this rather than toxic acids. Recently I used pickle I bought from Monster Slayer...that too turned my silver black. I wonder what it is I'm doing wrong...
We've been having a conversation about pieces turning dark grey in the pickle in my metalsmiths group. The consensus seems to be that pieces turn grey either when the pickle is too strong or when they're left in the pickle too long. (This is true with all pickles, not just organic pickle.) I forgot a chain in the pickle for two days and it turned a deep, dull grey.
I'd guess that Beth left her piece in the pickle for much too long. For silver, I would guess an hour or so should be plenty long enough. Swati - how long did you leave your piece in the pickle? You can also try using less salt to make the pickle less strong.
Hope that helps!
I finally tried this orgainic pickle. I LOVE it !!! It works really well!
Thank you for sharing!
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