 ArtMetalsocial networking for the metal arts |
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Some of My work
whisperingangel -
Sunday, October 26, 2008 - 9:47pm
forging steel | metal art I will try to upload a picture of my concrete & copper bird, bird bath. It is rather larger, but I use a sand bag to  large pieces
warren -
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 - 12:35pm
whispering, See I came from the old days before the swimming pool stuff was introduced for pickling. I use sulfuric acid, other wise known as battery acid ($4 for a pint bottle from the local auto parts store). For larger work I just mix a batch of 10 parts water and one part acid in a squirt bottle. Take the thing outside and if you have a concrete driveway or pad works the best. Just squirt it down let it sit and keep squirting for about 15 minutes. Use a scotchbrite pad to remove any stubborn areas. Rinse with water. Now you have to make sure and use all of the safety precautions, add the acid to the water, wear a rubber apron, wear rubber gloves, wear safety glasses and then also wear a clear face shield. Wear old clothes because if you get too much of the pickle on your clothes it will make holes. I have been doing it this way for years and probably will still being doing it for a few more years. Yeah my driveway has a little bit of stain. www Metalrecipes -- heat and beat to the desired shape, repeat as necessary.  wispering, I use granular
Fred Zweig -
Thursday, February 5, 2009 - 2:55pm
wispering, I use granular pool acid (PH minus). It contains mostly Sodium Bisulphate and is the same as Sparex. I use it on larger pieces of copper. I mix it up in a 5 gallon bucket and use it cold. It takes a bit longer to clean the metal and it does work. If you need a larger container you might try some of the lidded plastic storage tub or plastic trash container. As always be careful. Acid does damage your close and must be used with caution and safely. Fred Zweig  You can pickle cold, it just
Rich Waugh -
Friday, February 6, 2009 - 10:11pm
You can pickle cold, it just takes longer than doing it hot. For big pieces that won't fit in a handy container, make up a container of scrap wood and line it with a vinyl shower curtain. Don't use polyethylene sheet as it quickly gets brittle with sunlight. For cheap pickle, use either sulfuric acid as Warren does, or dry pool pH reducer as mentioned. The bisulfite solution is a bit gentler than the sulfuric, but the end result is the same, both for the work and for the clothing it splatters on. :-) If you simply must heat a large volume of pickle, try using a stock tank immersion heater about twice as big as would normally be used for the volume of liquid you're working with. You'll need to be sure the heater can take the acid - i.e., it should be stainless steel or ceramic. Otherwise, you can heat a few large chunks of stainless steel scrap in your home oven and dump them in the pickle to heat it. Bricks will do it, too. Or build a solar heater from black poly piping and a salvaged glass shower door.  Thanks for all the feedback.
visitor -
Sunday, January 15, 2012 - 6:37pm
Thanks for all the feedback. Pickling Cold is fine. |
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ArtMetal
Pickling Large Copper sculpture
www.whisperingangelsart.com
So, im taking a jewelry class now to learn the small of metal smithing. Now I want to know how to pickle large pieces of copper to make it all clean like you do in the little jewelry class? Does anybody have any idea? The solution should be crock pot hot. They use a swimming pool solution, but im not too sure what right now. But it works fabulous. I guess I could make a huge fire pit, with a big pot on it then wash the copper once Ive torched it to death?