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Proper wire for making cocktail picks

September 19, 2013

Q. I'd like to make cocktail/martini picks from silver wire, embellished with various beads. Is it necessary to use stainless steel or can another type of wire be used? I'm concerned of toxicity issues and corrosion when the metal meets an acid. Thanks so much for your help!

Jan Dobrowolski
- Washington, DC, USA

A. Hi Jan.

I don't think there will be a lot of acid in cocktails/martinis, nor in normal cleaning products. Some choices of plating would include gold, silver, nickel-chrome, and tin. As for the substrate, there is probably nothing dangerous about using plain steel under any of those platings; but we are a more queasy society than we used to be, so the picks would probably be discarded as soon as there was a little rust. Stainless is okay, but you could also use nickel-silver (contains no silver), which is what is used as the substrate for most silver plated tableware. Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
September 25, 2013

October 1, 2013

Thanks for taking the time to answer. You've been very helpful!

Jan Dobrowolski
- Washington, DC, USA

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