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removing the gold plating



 
 
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  #1  
Old April 10th 04, 07:49 PM
Eddie
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Default removing the gold plating

Hi all!
My customer wants to have "back" her silverchain, so is there some (easy
way) to remove gold plating from silverchain?
TIA
Eddie

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  #2  
Old April 10th 04, 09:42 PM
-SP-
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"Eddie" wrote in message
...
Hi all!
My customer wants to have "back" her silverchain, so is there some

(easy
way) to remove gold plating from silverchain?


Yes, if you have the means, propane or other, tumbler etc, then just
burn the plating off, let it cool a little, pickle it, and then
shot-barrel it.

Get the chain to just 'under' cherry red, and follow the above.
Works for me.

Disclaimer: *If it's thin, don't melt it! I won't take
responsibility!*

Or, just buy a new silver chain for your customer? Zilch dollars?

-SP-


TIA
Eddie


  #3  
Old April 10th 04, 10:04 PM
Peter W. Rowe
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Default

On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 13:42:03 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry "-SP-"
wrote:


"Eddie" wrote in message
. ..
Hi all!
My customer wants to have "back" her silverchain, so is there some

(easy
way) to remove gold plating from silverchain?


Yes, if you have the means, propane or other, tumbler etc, then just
burn the plating off, let it cool a little, pickle it, and then
shot-barrel it.

Get the chain to just 'under' cherry red, and follow the above.
Works for me.


This will work IF the chain was sterling silver with no additional plating, at
the time it was gold plated. many silver chains on the market are rhodium
plated to prevent tarnishing. One can gold plate such a chain, though often
the gold plate does not adhere so well or look so good. If your customer's
gold plated silver chain was ever rhodium plated, and if some or all of that
plating remained on the chain when it was then gold plated, heating the chain
not only won't "burn off" the gold plating, but will cause the rhodium plated
layer to bubble up. When that happens, it looks absolutely terrible, and is
almost impossible to repair.

"burning off" the gold plating isn't exactly what happens. At elevated
temperatures, the thin gold layer simply dissipates into the silver, becoming
invisible. In fact, if gold is plated directly over silver without any
intermediate underplating, this will happen on it's own, at room temperature,
over a period of perhaps years, especially if the gold plated layer is quite
thin. Like this, at room temp, the color often doesn't completely disappear,
but the plated layer ends up looking paler and paler, eventually being just a
slight yellow tint. With heating, the gold dissipates further into the silver,
and is no longer visible.

When one gold plates silver, knowing the above, it's sometimes good practice to
isolate the silver from the gold layer. Commonly, this can be done with an
intermediate plated layer of copper, or of nickle, or often, a combination of
both. This is the same then, as is done prior to rhodium plating silver. If
the gold plate on the chain was put on wth this type of nickel underplate, then
heating will also not burn it off, but can, as with rhodium, just make a mess.

With larger heavier chains, it might be just easiest to buff the chain, if the
style is one where a soft bristle brush can get to most of the surface area.
That can safely remove the gold plating from exposed areas, without bubbling
underplated layers. However, it doesn't remove all the gold, as recessed
areas, such as inside surfaces of the links, won't get buffed. Tumbling can
sometimes take some of it off too.

or, another simple fix is to silver plate the chain right over the gold. Won't
last forever, but might last a goodly long time, and can always be redone.
This avoids potential problems with bubbling up nickel or rhodium underplates.

And so does SP's final suggestion. Buy another chain. Given the time involved
to fuss with this, how much more expensive, if at all, will a new chain be?

A couple other methods deserve mention, just in the interest of completeness.

One method of removing the gold plating is electrostripping. The best
electrostripping solutions for gold are cyanide based, however, so this isn't
something to use unless you're quite familier with the needed safety
precautions. With a thin plated layer, just soaking for a time in a cyanide
solution will dissolve the gold, even without electric current. In both these
cases, be aware that once you've dissolved the gold layer, the cyanide is just
as happy dissolving the silver too, so monitor the activity and remove the
chain as soon as the gold is gone, or you'll be making the chain thinner.

And, related to both electrostripping and just cyanide soaking, "bombing" will
remove a thing gold plate from silver just fine. This has the advantage over
electrostripping that it does not remove more from external exposed surfaces
than from internal recessed ones. Bombing removes it evenly from everything.
You'll probably have to do it a couple times, since if the gold layer is thick
enough, the bombing action will initially tend to redeposit some of the gold
back onto the silver, but after a couple cycles, this won't happen. As with
the other cyanide processes, this will also remove some silver, so pay
attention. And as with the others, bombing is not something to do unless you
know the proper methods, have the right equipment to do it safely, and can
properly dispose of the used solutions. Chances are, if you've come to this
group for advice on this, you probably don't yet have any of those assets, and
for a single chain, it won't be worth the expense to learn it and acquire the
needed equipment.

And one final possibility. Aqua regia (3 parts HCl to one part Nitric acid)
will quickly dissolve gold. When it reaches the silver, however, it tends to
stop actively removing metal when the silver surface forms a skin of silver
chloride that slows or prevents further attack. You'd want to closely watch
the process and remove the chain once the gold is gone, since the AR will still
slowly be attacking the chain. When you're done with this, you'd have no gold
left on the chain, but the silver surface would be dull and smutty grey/white.
You then toss the chain in a tumbler with steel shot, or better, a magnetic
tumbler, and it would brighten right up again.

Somewhere in all this, is likely a good suggestion for you. My guess is that
the new chain will be the best solution.

Peter

  #4  
Old April 11th 04, 01:13 AM
-SP-
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Posts: n/a
Default


"Peter W. Rowe" pwrowe@ixDOTnetcomDOTcom wrote in message
...
On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 13:42:03 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry "-SP-"


wrote:


"Eddie" wrote in message
. ..
Hi all!
My customer wants to have "back" her silverchain, so is there

some
(easy
way) to remove gold plating from silverchain?

Yes, if you have the means, propane or other, tumbler etc, then

just
burn the plating off, let it cool a little, pickle it, and then
shot-barrel it.

Get the chain to just 'under' cherry red, and follow the above.
Works for me.


This will work IF the chain was sterling silver with no additional

plating, at
the time it was gold plated. many silver chains on the market are

rhodium
plated to prevent tarnishing.


Well, I can only speak from experience Peter. Yes, my experience
has been with silver items that are only gold plated, but in 20 odd
years, I can't say that I've ever come across a silver chain that's
been plated with rhodium. Silver plating after polishing? Yes, but not
rhodium plating. How strange. Perhaps it's unique to America at the
moment? I wouldn't have a clue...


-SP-


Peter


  #5  
Old April 11th 04, 01:30 AM
Peter W. Rowe
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Default

On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 17:13:20 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry "-SP-"
wrote:

Well, I can only speak from experience Peter. Yes, my experience
has been with silver items that are only gold plated, but in 20 odd
years, I can't say that I've ever come across a silver chain that's
been plated with rhodium. Silver plating after polishing? Yes, but not
rhodium plating. How strange. Perhaps it's unique to America at the
moment? I wouldn't have a clue...


I've been seeing these things for at least those 20 years, here in the U.S.,
where I'd guess of the commercially sold silver chain, the majority of it is
rhodium plated. Probably, it's that where you are, stamping laws or other
such regulationss are sane enough to prevent perfectly good sterling silver
from being mucked up that way. It might also be that usually, the rhodium is
plated over an underplate of first copper, then nickel, and perhaps that nickel
underplate is what makes it not allowable for your location. Either way,
it's a good thing you don't have to contend with the stuff. Makes it really
hard to work on, and isn't as good looking, IMHO, having that steely chrome
white of rhodium rather than the considerably whiter/lighter color that so sets
silver apart from the other precious metals. but the bottom line seems to be
that dealers and retailers prefer a product they can keep in stock without it
yellowing or tarnishing to black when it sits around. A silver ring that does
that can be easily buffed up again. Chain, with it's many recesses, is a lot
harder to clean up unless one has equipment fancier than just the polishing
cloth most people running sales showcases might easily have available.

Here, the practice is, I think, driven more by retailers than consumers.
Retailers who didn't like sterling tarnishing in their show cases liked the
idea of rhodium plated silver chain, and in fact, a slew of other commercially
mass produced sterling items too, if they're likely to sit around in inventory
for a bit before sale. (rings from the home shopping channels on the T.V. for
example, are often rhodium plated over the silver.) Mostly it's an issue with
the mass produced ware, and it's not confined to goods produced here in the
States. A good deal of it is italian, or from other overseas sources. .It's
possible that it may be made just for export to this market, if the EU has a
problem with the nickel underplate (which they well might, though you'd perhaps
know better than I).

Those manufacturers doing hand made or otherwise higher end silver chain and
jewelry don't usually do this. They, at least, have some respect for the nice
look of actual sterling silver, which of course is totally hidden when you give
it a rhodium electroplate.

cheers

Peter
  #6  
Old April 14th 04, 02:41 AM
Eddie
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Default

Hi all!
Thank you very much for your advices!
....Seems to be a little bit confusing...?
Maybe this advice about buying new chain would be the best solution!
Thanks!
Eddie

 




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