Table of Contents
What is firestain on silver?
“Fire scale or fire stain is a reddish purple toned ‘bloom’ or ‘stain’ that appears on silver/copper alloys such as sterling silver when they are heated in the presence of oxygen. It even occurs in gold alloys with high copper contents.
How do you remove firestain from silver?
The most common and easiest way to remove fire stain is by using an abrasion to file away the fire scale and to then re-polish your piece.
What causes firescale?
Firescale is caused by oxygen combining with copper present in the silver-copper alloy. Silver has the ability to absorb oxygen at high temperatures and conduct the oxygen to the interior of the metal itself where it can bond with copper atoms present thus causing deep firescale to occur.
How do I get rid of firescale?
Firescale/firestain is difficult to remove and the only predictable way to remove it, that I’ve found, is with sanding or etching. You could try using 50% sodium bisulfate based pickle and 50% hydrogen peroxide.
How do you use Argotect?
How to use: The powder should be mixed to a smooth paste with water (a few drops of detergent may be added too) and applied to the clean and de-greased solder joint with a flux brush before assembly. Extra flux paste should then be applied to either side of the join to ensure a good flow and a solid join is achieved.
How long do you leave jewelry in pickle?
Normally it takes about 10-15 min to for the pickle to clean your metals. When it’s time to take them out you’re going to want to neutralize the acid with some baking soda mixed into water.
Why is my flux turning black?
If the flux turns black and the solder won’t flow into the fitting, the joint is overheated.
Does pickle remove Firescale?
Firescale naturally occurs during the soldering process. Pickling is simply dissolving firescale from the top layer of your piece after it has been heated. It’s called pickling because jewelers used to remove firescale with a solution of alum, which is the same compound used to make pickles.
What is Argotect?
Provides standard Silver with protection against firestain when annealing and soldering. Mix to a paste with soapy water. Correct use gives a continuous protective film over the piece.
Does jewelry pickle have to be hot?
Pickle works best at a warm temperature, so use a small crock pot that will warm up the solution without boiling it. Please note that this crockpot is now a permanent part of your jewelry studio.
Why do you need to pickle after soldering?
Pickle is a liquid compound used to remove oxidation and flux from newly soldered jewelry. It is what you put your pieces in to clean them after soldering. Metal that has been soldered produces oxidation on the outside of it. Allowing the metal to cool and then dropping it into the pickle removes the oxidation.
Does flux go bad?
The performance of plumbing flux is not guaranteed beyond the shelf life of the product, it will remain usable beyond that date if stored in a sealed container and is protected from temperature extremes. The flux can degrade due to evaporation and may thicken and not work correctly as the product ages.
What is the difference between firescale and Firestain?
Jewelry Materials: A Guide to Working with Common Alloys, Technical Editor: James Binnion, states that: “Firescale and firestain are often used interchangeably, but technically can mean two different thing….Firescale is a dark gray to black scale on the surface of the silver…Firestain is a dark purple subsurface stain…”
What can be done to reduce the problem of Firestain?
Attempts to reduce the problem of firestain include preventative and curative ones. Firestain can be largely prevented by heating the object in an atmosphere in which the oxygen has been replaced with another combustive gas such as hydrogen or ammonia.
Is there any way to prevent the appearance of firescale?
Firescale. The only long-term techniques to prevent the appearance of firescale are through its time-consuming physical removal or preventing its formation in the first place (which is often expensive and requires specialized equipment/ gasses/ tools).