Pickle for stainless??

[JulieV]

474 Does anyone know how to clean stainless steel back to its original shine after making a bead on it? I have made some beads on the end of some olive picks and of course the heat from the torch discolored the area near the beads. Can I use jewellers pickle? Or is it just for silver?
Also, when I batch annealing these, will the rest of the pick turn dark too? What if I dip the whole length of the pick in bead release before batch annealing? Will that protect it?
I tried polishing the yellow and black one with and SOS pad (steel wool).It worked a bit but there must be a better way....
All replies greatly appreciated!!

[vichall]

You might try Simichrome polish. I've used it to polish all types of metal, including stainless. You can find it at Home Depot and the like. Just put some on a cloth and rub.

Vickie

[Dale M.]

474 Does anyone know how to clean stainless steel back to its original shine after making a bead on it? I have made some beads on the end of some olive picks and of course the heat from the torch discolored the area near the beads. Can I use jewellers pickle? Or is it just for silver?
Also, when I batch annealing these, will the rest of the pick turn dark too? What if I dip the whole length of the pick in bead release before batch annealing? Will that protect it?
I tried polishing the yellow and black one with and SOS pad (steel wool).It worked a bit but there must be a better way....
All replies greatly appreciated!!

I think the darking of the stainless is because of carbon migrating to surface of the stainless during heating .... The only way to remove it is with some abrasive processes, scouring or polishing... Anything that will etch the carbon off the metal surface will also etch the glass ...

Dale

[JulieV]

Thank you Vickie and Dale! Your suggestions are greatly appreciated.

So before I batch anneal these picks, should I expect the whole stainless steel pick to turn dark?
Should I dip the whole pick (except the bead, of course) in bead release?
Will that protect it from the heat of the kiln?????

[vichall]

My first thought on it would say NOT to dip the whole pick in release. It seems that the ends of mandrels always discolor worst where they were dipped (and heated hottest), and the rest of the mandrel doesn't darken like that after coming out of the kiln. I would wonder if some of the darkening is due to a migration of carbon from the bead release into the steel, rather than out of the steel.

Probably only one way to find out though...
Vickie

[JulieV]

Thanks Vickie. I didn't put any bead release on the pick before I made the beads. I did that so the beads would be stuck in place; had no intention of trying to remove the beads at all. I didn't know how mandrels come out of the kiln cuz I always batch anneal thus take the beads off mandrels first. I think I'll just put them in the kiln as it and see what happens.....