Removing gold plating

[Bree L.]

Hello...
At the moment I have an evenstar necklace (gift from an old boyfriend) and with some effort in renoving some of the plating I discovered it was a wonderful copper underneath.
However it took a reasonable amount of time (using aluminum foil) to remove the plating, and there will e areas I can't get to in that way.
Does anyone know a quicker way to remove all the gold plating? Within reason - materials that can be purchased at a supermarket or hardware store.
Thanks,
Bree L.

[Bree L.]

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[Siliconous Skumins]

Just plate copper over the top of the gold bits. A bit of pure copper (old coin, bit of pipe etc.), a battery and a little bit of copper sulfate, or water with lemon juice / white vinegar / something acidic...  as an electrolyte. A couple of lantern batteries / 'D' cells, "AA" cells or similar will be sufficient power.

Seems a lot easier and quicker that trying to remove gold plate from difficult to reach areas....

SS

[Matthias Gladstone]

Electrolysis would be the best bet I think - all you'll need is a power supply (car battery is ideal, something fairly low voltage with a reasonable amperage - for sod's sake don't plug it into the mains), and some salt water. Connect the item as your negative electrode, dip the positive somewhere else in the saltwater bath, and turn on the current. You should see bubbles coming off of one of the electrodes (the negative I think, but double check) which lets you know the reaction is happening. Keep a careful eye on the process, and be careful with the electrolyte when you're disposing of it - when I did my goggles, the chrome plating reacted with the salt into a toxic looking yellow-green gunk.

[Captain Shipton Bellinger]

Regardless of what the base metal is, when electroplating gold the first part of the process is to lay down a layer of copper, which acts as a firm surface for the gold to 'bond' into. So, you may have just discovered the thin copper layer under the gold.

Electrolysis will do a good job of removing the gold, but will also remove the pretty copper under-layer too.

Now you may be lucky, and have a necklace that is, at base, made of a copper alloy, but equally it may be made of a ferrous alloy or the dreaded 'pot metal'. It would probably be worthwhile to:

a. see if it's attracted to a magnet (it's ferrous  )
b. find an area that won't be noticed and file away until you're sure you're through all of the plating. If it looks silvery, you're out of luck. 

Of course, you could always re-plate it with copper, regardless of what the base metal may be. 

[Captain Braid]

Hello...
At the moment I have an evenstar necklace (gift from an old boyfriend) and with some effort in renoving some of the plating I discovered it was a wonderful copper underneath.
However it took a reasonable amount of time (using aluminum foil) to remove the plating, and there will e areas I can't get to in that way.
Does anyone know a quicker way to remove all the gold plating? Within reason - materials that can be purchased at a supermarket or hardware store.
Thanks,
Bree L.

Well I've had remarkable sucess removing paint with Dettol (Simple Green in the States) you could always try that or oven cleaner.
BUT before you wear it scrub with plenty of clean water and a good cheap toothbrush, getting rid of any and all deposits.

[Siliconous Skumins]

<snip> Well I've had remarkable sucess removing paint with Dettol (Simple Green in the States)<snip>...

That may well be so - but it wont be of use here. were talking about metal plate, not paint... 

Also gold doesn't react much to most chemicals, and the ones it does, are pretty much lethal. Sodium Cyanide comes to mind (probably more often that it should...). 

SS

[MakerMike]

As the good Captain said, there's precious little that will chemically or electrochemically remove gold without removing the underlying copper, as gold is a more noble (i.e., less reactive) metal than copper.  I agree that the best route is to copper plate it, if you're looking for a copper finish.

[Unsubtle Pete]

<snip> Well I've had remarkable sucess removing paint with Dettol (Simple Green in the States)<snip>...

That may well be so - but it wont be of use here. were talking about metal plate, not paint... 

Also gold doesn't react much to most chemicals, and the ones it does, are pretty much lethal. Sodium Cyanide comes to mind (probably more often that it should...). 

SS

Aqua Regia will dissolve gold. Sadly, it will also dissolve copper.

[Kieranfoy]

<snip> Well I've had remarkable sucess removing paint with Dettol (Simple Green in the States)<snip>...

That may well be so - but it wont be of use here. were talking about metal plate, not paint... 

Also gold doesn't react much to most chemicals, and the ones it does, are pretty much lethal. Sodium Cyanide comes to mind (probably more often that it should...). 

SS

Aqua Regia will dissolve gold. Sadly, it will also dissolve copper.

People, too.