Lesson of the day: How to relic hardware in 4 (easy) steps

marantz1300

Cheers lads.
It's for a set of gold Klusons I want to age.

jaymenon

How long does it take with vinegar fumes please, to create a gentle patina upon nickel hardware...?

monoamine

Not long. Check them every few mins and rinse off under cold water to see what the actual effect it.

jaymenon

It’s been 12 hours - no effect :-)

historyisjunk

You can actually get pretty good results on nickel using cheap vinegar/acetic acid. The way I did it was put the parts in the smaller container (where they stay dry, but are exposed to the fumes), then put that in the bigger container, that way you can get quite a lot of vinegar in. Left overnight makes a pretty big difference, would not expect it to touch chrome, at least not for a long time.
I think the cheaper crappier vinegar the better for this.

jaymenon

Did you scuff them up first? Or do the vinegar fumes act on brand new nickel...?

historyisjunk

Brand new. I did this with pickup covers I got from Alegree on here, also a Faber bridge. As I remember the bridge "turned" quicker than the covers.
If it's not working for you, is it possible the items have some kind of laquer, or maybe you haven't got enough vinegar giving off the fumes? I think I used a bit more than half a 575ml bottle

axisus

I get good results with hydrochloric acid. I'd use that rather than vinegar.

gjonesy

monoamine said:

off of amazon... says "36%" but fumes and behaves like the 16molar strong stuff i had at school! don't inhale and avoid skin contact. also, if you need to dilute, add acid to water, not water to acid!

36% is 11.65molar #PedantChemist

monoamine

Apologies. I put vinegar in a saucepan on a low heat with my metal parts suspended in a sieve above it and a lid over the top. It works on nickel very quickly so needs checking every 10 mins.

Kittyfrisk

I make my own white vinegar'/household cleaner from diluting 99% Anhydrous Glacial Acetic Acid (Ethanoic Acid).
Nasty stuff, that like all such products requires respect in handling & appropriate PPE.
It is very handy though being able to vary the strength to make a wide range of useful products that would have to be bought individually at a much higher cost.