How to Remove Fire Stain from Silver

The jewellers enemy. That black coating that needs to be removed to polish silver nicely.
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[@BasildonJewellery]

I use Firescoff ceramic flux coating spray on my Tiffany Silver pieces when rebuilding the hearts and tags, it helps so much with preventing the fire stain to begin with! As with removing it with my experience, working down buff gradients until youre using like a 3000/6000 buff paper is a really good way to removing it if youre trying to avoid engravings espcially laser engravings

[@DiamondMounter]

Sometimes silver is silver plated to help not tarnish over time. This can partially burn off when soldering and its trouble especially in fine chains

[@lordmark4966]

pretty straightforward, jus gotta finely sand or polish it out once u got it. but boraxic acid and alcohol is my go to for preventing fire scale, mix it up 5050 and burn it off clear a couple times and if u need to solder somewhere u can scrape it off to add flux in jus that location and the whole piece wont be as likely to fire scale as much. not a perfect solution ofc but less fire scale is def better.

[@charneduplessis1656]

What compound did you use on the hard bristle brushes?!

[@stackingdinkus]

I've polished gnarly waves and ripples into the surface of my pieces trying to sand out deep stains. Now, I got into joins hot and fast with my torch to reduce excessive heating, and flux liberally. Seems to help... But, I've always wanted to try depletion guilding! Next time I have bad stains I'm going to try and see how it compares with sanding/polishing

[@armingholamrezaie4541]

You are the best , thank you for the great video 👌

[@christopherlund1198]

Couldn't you just deplete the surface of the coper by repeated heating? like you would do leading up to reticulation or Keum-boo?

[@sweetjcazalee1210]

Wud like to kn answer to this too as i done depleating before

[@DonariaRegia]

@@sweetjcazalee1210 I find that just a single heating, and watching the color change during the process, greatly reduces the amount of abrasive work needed. Only heat enough to see the discoloration reduced. Then dunk in water and straight to working the remainder of the stain out.

[@CecilXzandu]

Id imagine reticulating could work if you dont have an ornate piece and if you take great care as it could go very badly extremely rapidly

[@christopherlund1198]

@@CecilXzandu I don’t mean to say go through with the reticulation, but to do the steps up to bit not including the reticulation. Just deplete the surface of the copper.

[@sweetjcazalee1210]

Wud that work for a piece made with silver n bronze? When i over fired my bronze piece to solder in my silver piece, the copper in the bronze surfaced but after i pickled it, the copper coluur really become more visible. I try polish but don't seems to get rid of the copper stain. Does that metal polish wheel u show are they sold in mini size for attachment to foredom?

[@minuteman4199]

You sometimes have to remove a lot of metal to get rid of the stain. Heating the copper causes oxygen to bond with the copper and create copper oxide. To prevent it you have to keep oxygen out of your work. Flux keeps oxygen away from the metal. Use lots of flux every time you heat the metal. Use flux every time you anneal your metal. You want to avoid it because you might have to remove a lot of metal to polish it out.

[@mohsh3946]

So does that mean the oxygen+propane torches are actually more likely to give your silver fire stains?

[@minuteman4199]

@@mohsh3946 Good question. I don't know. I use oxy propane and sometimes have issue with fire scale, sometimes I don't.

[@johnmimist]

@@mohsh3946the other ones pull oxygen from our air.

[@ngtta-3302]

I would happly pay alittle for the old broken buffing machine when you get a new one :D Aslong as you sign it hahaha

[@DiamondMounter]

I can send you something signed if you want! Maybe not the polishing machine tho

[@ngtta-3302]

hahaha, sounds great :D@@DiamondMounter

[@mohsh3946]

I guess it's a bit of a cheat, but you can always get your piece silver plated. Never tried getting rid of fire stains with silver plating though. But it could be worth a try I guess...

[@mad-zr8wy]

Also, make your piece slightly heavier, so you can file a bit more off.

[@duncanfamilyOK]

Polish Past the Pink!

[@johnmimist]

Thought I’d check back. Haven’t been here for a while cuz I was sorry to hear you always criticizing people. But still, I just don’t know why you’re always so critical of other people. Saying Charles Lutenbrain, ( who is well-known in the jewelry world, at least in America ), calling him someone who is trying to sound wordy, when he’s giving a scientific answer, which is what you were looking for, and we’re critical of the other answer of being too surfacy. So one is too surfacy. One is too wordy. Are you going to start writing articles yourself? Ganokskin is the name of a company. A company that helps a lot of people. I mean, like there is something wrong with a word for a company that means nothing. Not all companies use words that mean anything. Think of Oreo or Cheerios Catsup. etc. Maybe it means something to them. You called Charles trying to make himself sound smart, but then you accuse yourself of being dumb. lol. What??? I mean, come on. I love how detailed you are. Which is why people love Charles.

[@daykangemcutting8679]

you are the best❤❤

[@Gazz_R]

Borax mixed with meths works great for helping to prevent it. Hydrogen peroxide can be used in your pickle to remove it. Thanks for sharing.

[@moonshadow1704]

Hello, what do you call meths? The only meaning I know for it is ... Methamphetamine 😂 I doubt you use illegal drugs to prevent fire stains on your silver jewelry

[@Gazz_R]

@@moonshadow1704 AKA denatured alcohol. The borax settles to the bottom, so you have to give it a quick shake before use. Dip your piece in and then light it to burn off the methylated spirits/denatured alcohol and it leaves your piece with a fine coating of borax.

[@moonshadow1704]

@@Gazz_R Thank you very much for your clarifications and tips. I'll give it a try next time I work with silver

[@Gazz_R]

@@moonshadow1704 Always happy to help. Please take care using this method and enjoy the rest of your week.

[@DiamondMounter]

I used to use that stuff to help protect gemstones from heat when soldering. I got sick of the smell and haven't used it for years