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Antiquing rubs off faucets in soldered area
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Q. I am antiquing brass faucets that have soldered joints. The joints are buffed so no solder is outside the joint. After antiquing, areas near the joint sweat. It doesn't matter if I antique the faucet raw or plate it first. I have cyanide copper plated the faucets then nickel plated, then cyanide copper then antique them or end with brass plate then antique them. I have no adhesion problems but no matter how many plating stages nor thickness will seal the areas. I have tried many post-antique rinses, mainly high pH and sodium bicarb. What am I doing wrong?
David FixJob shop owner - Grand Junction, CO, USA
August 22, 2009
A. I know that you would not use leaded solder on a drinking water faucet, but something from the buffing area of the solder is leaving a fine smear of something. Try a dip in fluoboric acid after the caustic clean step and see if it helps. You can try it in the lab at very little cost.
James Watts- Navarre, Florida
Q. Need help with antiquing my faucet fixtures, my plating keeps rubbing off in the welded areas...why...any suggestions or comments?
David Fixplating specialties - Grand Junction, CO, USA
A. Is this a repeat of your post of several days ago, or is this welding vs soldering?
Welding changes the metallurgy of the part in the heat affected zone. If you mean brazing, I would blame it on the flux that you are using.
- Navarre, Florida
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