Pickling v. peeling
 

Newbie question: I have been reading posts, watching videos about peeling clear rods. I am wondering if pickling accomplishes the same thing? Thanks.

Peeling is removing a layer of glass to expose an untainted surface.
It requires removing quite a bit of glass.

Pickling really doesn't remove more than a few microns of glass
from the surface if any, what it does is clean off oils and any
other crud that is on the glass.

Pickling, as stated above, removes the crud from the surface and will dissolve metal dust that my be down in the scratches that end up on the surface from shipping and handing. No glass is removed by the sulfuric acid in the pickle. The scratches themselves can create bubbles and fine scum, though pickling does usually give some improvement. Peeling takes a bit of practice but can yield fantastic results. It's better to learn on fat rods to develop your technique, then move down to smaller material as you get better at it.

Robert

Thank you both.