acid test question

[willis7]

I have a stick pin and I'm pretty sure it's gold, I put 10k acid on it nothing happened so I went up all the way to 22k acid, when I put the 22k acid on it it bubbled up green, I washed it off and put 18k on it and nothing happened. is that supposed to happen?

 

[diggummup]

Sounds like 18k if the acid didn't start bubbling. Your acid could be getting weak though depending on how old it is. So 14k is possible too I guess.

 

[war-digs-it]

Are you putting the acid directly on the piece? If you are then yes that will happen. Early in my testing days I did that to some 14k wire meshed bracelet which was well marked and I got mad for buying it and threw it in the garbage...Horrible mistake!!!

 

[willis7]

ok cool thank you!

 

[willis7]

yeah I'm putting it right on the peice

 

[JohnnyFlake]

Hey Guys,

Putting acid right on to the piece is very wrong! You can even damage the piece by doing so.

What you need is a small sharpening stone, with an extremely fine grit. You can get them about 1" wide x 3" or 4" long and maybe a 1/4" thick. Take the item to are testing and run an area that is not too visible, along he stone for about 2". It should leave a fine line of gold on the stone and virtually no sign of anything on the piece. Then place a tiny drop of 14K Acid on the line near one end. If the 14K acid makes the gold disappear where it touches then it's probably 10K. If the 14K acid does nothing to the gold line, try a tiny drop of 18K Acid, if you have it and so on. If the 14K Acid doesn't cut the gold line the piece is at least 14K or higher.

Never put acid on the piece!!!

 

[buzzhead]

If you are scrapping it, it doesn't matter if the acid goes right on the piece or not.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[willis7]

yeah the peice is broken that's why I put it directly on it, and rubbing it on a tile is just as damaging I'd rather put the acid on the peice and then polish it up afterwards

 

[Rodbuster209]

Try putting the acid right on the broken spot if possible, you could get a good indication of what you got, that is if it real or not.

 

[willis7]

I did I'm sure it's gold I've just never gone all the way up to 22k acid this time I did an it bubbled up green just caught me off guard, didn't do it with any of the other acids