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Q&As since 1989


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Removing Liver-Of-sulfur oxidation?

 

I got slightly carried away using liver of sulfur [on eBay or Amazon] and the sterling pieces I was oxidising now have a battleship-grey coating. The coating seems impervious to any non-destructive removal method I can think of. I've tried hot ammonia, hot Sparex pickle, and even paint stripper. The coating ignored them all. I'll be grateful for any suggestions.

Mairead MacDonald

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As a former jeweler, I have often used jeweler's brown tripoli rouge (polishing/buffing compound) [affil links] on a buffing wheel to remove liver of sulfur oxidation. Just be very careful. Keep the pressure light because tripoli cuts fast and can easily cut away the silver. Keep the object moving across the buffing wheel (or keep the buffing wheel moving if the object is stationary). jeweler's rouge (polishing/buffing compound) [affil links] may also work, but is a polishing compound rather than a cutting compound like tripoli, so it will be slower than tripoli. If you use tripoli, it will leave a dull finish that can be polished to a gloss with rouge.

John Segal