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Tips, Techniques, and Questions -- Technical questions or tips

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  #1  
Old 2011-03-31, 4:09am
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Default Pickling Clear Glass

Just wanted to say that I did it, and am SO glad that I did!

All of my moretti and messy clear is super sparkling. And the cloudy messy stringer that I bought is now bright and sparkling.

If you haven't done it, do it! It didn't take very long, and was well worth it!

Here's how I did it:
I heated water on the stove until it was simmering, and put it into a pyrex dish. Then I added 1/4 cup of powdered pickle, mixed it up with a rod until it was dissolved and then soaked my glass for 15-2o minutes. The water was about an inch higher than the rods, so they were totally immersed. Rinsed it well and dried it well.

Scummy problem solved!
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  #2  
Old 2011-03-31, 5:46am
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Yep, did mine too! My glass is all sparkly too. I used ph down instead tho.
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  #3  
Old 2011-03-31, 7:56am
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How did you guys dispose of the pickling solution? Is it safe to put down the drain? Also, where did you get your powdered pickling solution?
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Old 2011-03-31, 9:42am
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I just did a bunch of different clears in pickle. The glass is very clean and beautiful. BUT, I find that the scummy glass is still fizzing up in the torch. The other clears look great, but I don't notice a difference between the pickle and cleaning the rods well before using.

Has anyone tested the glass in the torch and found a big difference between cleaned glass and pickled glass?
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  #5  
Old 2011-03-31, 9:47am
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You can save the pickle in a tupperware container and use it again later.
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  #6  
Old 2011-03-31, 10:50am
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how do you know when the pickle solution isn't (when it has expired)?

what should be the ratio of ph down to water?

i tried phdown and distilled water on some clear that had been scumming, and it worked like a charm, no sizzle in flame, either. i rinsed with distilled water too, because my well water is hard.

stacy
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  #7  
Old 2011-03-31, 10:56am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mnoelker View Post
How did you guys dispose of the pickling solution? Is it safe to put down the drain? Also, where did you get your powdered pickling solution?
I throw some baking soda into the solution to neutralize it before dumping down the drain. If it still fizzes, add more baking soda until it doesn't. I don't really measure anything out.
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Old 2011-03-31, 11:04am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by smcgypsea View Post
how do you know when the pickle solution isn't (when it has expired)?

what should be the ratio of ph down to water?

i tried phdown and distilled water on some clear that had been scumming, and it worked like a charm, no sizzle in flame, either. i rinsed with distilled water too, because my well water is hard.

stacy
I use a 15" glass baking pain on the stove, fill it 3/4 the way with water and use about 1 tbsp of ph down.

As far as it being expired, take a little bit out, put some baking soda in it and if it doesn't fizz then its no good.
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  #9  
Old 2011-03-31, 7:04pm
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Has anyone tried pickling their clear without keeping the solution over a continuous source of heat? I don't have a heat source to put my container of pickle solution on and was wondering if I heated the water, put it into the pyrex dish and added the pH down, stirred it and then added in the rods and left them for about half and hour if it would be effective?
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  #10  
Old 2011-04-01, 5:26am
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What is ph down? Where do you buy that?
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  #11  
Old 2011-04-01, 5:46am
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All of my glass is labeled. This is going to kill those labels, right?
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  #12  
Old 2011-04-01, 7:06am
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More reading with lots of answers here:
http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/sh...t=glass+pickle

I've got to run so can't look for the specific pages, but PH Down is from pool/hot tub chemical area, and make sure it has the right chemical in it.

I took the labels off & put them back on when it came out or made my own.
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  #13  
Old 2011-04-01, 7:35am
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This is exactly what I found. No difference. The rods were just really nice and clean which can be done with regular dish soap and hot water IMO....ok don't yell at me

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Originally Posted by Dasi View Post
I just did a bunch of different clears in pickle. The glass is very clean and beautiful. BUT, I find that the scummy glass is still fizzing up in the torch. The other clears look great, but I don't notice a difference between the pickle and cleaning the rods well before using.

Has anyone tested the glass in the torch and found a big difference between cleaned glass and pickled glass?
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  #14  
Old 2011-04-01, 8:22am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by glassactcc View Post
This is exactly what I found. No difference. The rods were just really nice and clean which can be done with regular dish soap and hot water IMO....ok don't yell at me
I only did half the pound of each clear. The other half I left unpickled. I just cleaned them with alcohol. I went to the torch and put both rods in a wide flame and watched the scum appear at the same rate. I was 3 1/2 inches up in the flame. I have a terrible batch of Vetrofond. The super clear was nice and still the same for each rod. The super clear had a tiny bit of haze and cloudyness but no real scum.
The plain Effetre also scummed up a little but not nearly as bad as the Vetrofond.
As for Reformulated lauscha. It was beautiful with pickle and without.....
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  #15  
Old 2011-04-01, 8:48am
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Sounds so familiar as far as the glass. I have a horrible batch of Vetro Super that has a hazy scum on it that won't come off no mater what. My last batch of regular ol Effetre was stunning, and Lausha is always stunning. Thanks for the info on your test.
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  #16  
Old 2011-04-01, 10:17am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crystalflipz View Post
Has anyone tried pickling their clear without keeping the solution over a continuous source of heat?
That is what I'm going to try. I have a lasagne pan with a tupperware type cover. I'm sure it will be slower, but I figure that I can just leave rods soaking for a day or longer if the pan is sitting on my bench.
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  #17  
Old 2011-04-01, 10:21am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crystalflipz View Post
Has anyone tried pickling their clear without keeping the solution over a continuous source of heat? I don't have a heat source to put my container of pickle solution on and was wondering if I heated the water, put it into the pyrex dish and added the pH down, stirred it and then added in the rods and left them for about half and hour if it would be effective?
Yes, I did...using vigegar and salt...a "greener" version of pickle because I have a septic and well...works great
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Old 2011-04-01, 10:38am
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Aww...I was just kidding about that. No one would yell at me here I didn't want to come in and put a damper on the pickling. I just don't think it does anything.

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Why would anyone yell at you?
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Old 2011-04-01, 10:50am
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Aww...I was just kidding about that. No one would yell at me here I didn't want to come in and put a damper on the pickling. I just don't think it does anything.
LOL,i've been watching these pickling threads and wondering the same thing but trying to keep an open mind. I found the easiest way to work with Effetre & Vetro clear was to clean the rod with rubbing alcohol right before use and work 'em cool. Using fatter rods helped too. For stringers i only use Lauscha clear.
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Old 2011-04-01, 11:16am
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Originally Posted by Dasi View Post
I just did a bunch of different clears in pickle. The glass is very clean and beautiful. BUT, I find that the scummy glass is still fizzing up in the torch. The other clears look great, but I don't notice a difference between the pickle and cleaning the rods well before using.

Has anyone tested the glass in the torch and found a big difference between cleaned glass and pickled glass?
Quote:
Originally Posted by glassactcc View Post
This is exactly what I found. No difference. The rods were just really nice and clean which can be done with regular dish soap and hot water IMO....ok don't yell at me

I believe it has more to do with the condition of the rods you get and pickling gets rid the oil and dirt packed in the scratches (especially deep ones) where surface wiping with alcohol can't get rid of. If you have rods that don't have a lot of scratches, there probably isn't much of a difference. And pickling surely doesn't help the glass that tends to bubble/fizz in the heat of the torch.

When I learned last October that the current batch of Effetre Super Clear at the time was an excellent non-scummy batch, I got some from four different vendors. Let's just say that some suppliers are rougher with the rods than others - and I notice a marked difference in those rods that have more and/or deeper scratches. Those can most likely be helped by pickling.

Just my opinion however, for what it's worth.
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Old 2011-04-01, 2:27pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hayley View Post
I believe it has more to do with the condition of the rods you get and pickling gets rid the oil and dirt packed in the scratches (especially deep ones) where surface wiping with alcohol can't get rid of. If you have rods that don't have a lot of scratches, there probably isn't much of a difference. And pickling surely doesn't help the glass that tends to bubble/fizz in the heat of the torch.

When I learned last October that the current batch of Effetre Super Clear at the time was an excellent non-scummy batch, I got some from four different vendors. Let's just say that some suppliers are rougher with the rods than others - and I notice a marked difference in those rods that have more and/or deeper scratches. Those can most likely be helped by pickling.

Just my opinion however, for what it's worth.
This is definately my experience. I went ahead and picked the lauscha reformulated, effetre super clear, effetre "new clear", diamond clear, vetro crystal clear (hope im not mixing that one up) CiM clear , aether, and TAG clarity.

The lauscha reformulated was normally a very good performer for me, and it really didn't seem all that different after pickling
The effetre super clear when from grimy and cruddy to my all time top performing clear in the trials..turned triton and awesom MOP, and made frit glimmery... huge difference for me...
Effetre "new clear" and vetro "crystal clear" stayed pretty much sub par and not worth wasting silver glass on.
Diamond clear (although hotly debated) did amazing post pickling...even outshined my favorite lauscha.
CiM was scummy and stayed scummy...my least favorite clear.
Aether went from awesome to awesome not much diffence.
and TAG clarity just doesn't work with my torch chemistry...a million bubbles everywhere...
So that is my personal experience with pickling. well worth it for the effetre superclear, but a doesn't seem to improve the really good stuff, which is already excellent... This is just one woman's experience and I'm sure other people have thier favorite clears or techniques...
Cara

Just to show you a sample, this is Clio with effetre super clear, post pickle for me it's nice to have a relatively cheap option with DH
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