I poked around for an answer to this but couldn’t find anything so hopefully someone out there can help!
I’m not sure if my picture is attached but it is a sterling silver ring with a sterling silver tapered tube setting that is very discolored after soldering.
Solder: hard silver solder on the band and medium on the setting.
Flux: My-T-Flux (self-pickling flux for gold and silver) from Rio.
Pickle: Rio Pickle (sodium bisulfate) made with tap water.
I rinsed in running tap water, no baking soda bath.
What is causing the yellowing and how do I prevent it? Our water is pretty hard and smells strongly of chlorine but I didn’t used to have these problems.
On a secondary note though I cleaned a bunch of sterling silver items in a pink liquid jewelry cleaner (can’t remember the name) that I use at work with no problems but at home they also had a yellowish cast. For those I dipped and scrubbed with a baby toothbrush then brass brushed them with a soft brass brush and dawn dish detergent.
Could this have anything to do with my tap water?
