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How to rust nickel

I am trying to figure out a way to make nickel plated dissection pins rust. It is for an art project, and I want to use dissection pins for their conceptual value, and the ones I have found are nickel plated. I don't want them to look brand new and perfect. Any suggestions on something I can soak them in?

Lesley Buhring

2006

Nickel does not rust, iron (steel) does. You could sand the nickel off or find someone to strip it with a proprietary stripper. You could try to get a knowledgeable person in acid safety to strip the nickel off in concentrated nitric acid. Diluted nitric will attack the base metal. What is the possibility that the metal is chrome plated or is stainless steel?

James Watts
Navarre, Florida
2006

If anyone is interested, I got the pins to rust by soaking them in ammonia ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil links] for about a week and then soaking them in bleach ⇦ bleach/sodium hypochlorite in bulk on eBay or Amazon [affil links] for a few days.

Lesley Buhring

2006

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