Pickling
The word pickle describes any salt or vinegar and water solution used for preserving foods, and in general refers to solutions for steeping or soaking substances.
Pickling, as it pertains to the jewelry industry, is a treatment of metallic surfaces in order to remove impurities, stains, rust or scale with a solution called pickle liquor, containing strong mineral acids, before subsequent processing, such as extrusion, rolling, painting, galvanizing or plating with tin or chromium. The two acids commonly used are hydrochloric acid and sulphuric acid. Pickling liquid may be a combination of acids and may also contain nitric or hydrofluoric acids.
