I would agree, the harder you can scratch onto the stone the more accurate the test. Lately I have been experimenting with 18 karat acid to test silver. Instead of turning a brownish red turns a whitish blue. I’ve seen a lot of people use this technique and I’m starting to see its benefits. Hope this answers your question👍
The stuff I picked up on Amazon was JSP, it was a kit of 10 K 14 K 18 K 22K and bottles for testing platinum and silver with the stone included. For me it has been important to verify with a piece of silver you know is for sure real to make sure everything’s working. I hope this answer helps
"silver acid" sold by JSP aka Schwerters solution does go bad. The solution in the video is on the edge of going bad. at my stores we wrap silver acid bottles with a double layer aluminum foil to reduce light contamination, we also mark date purchased throw away at 6 months. Fresh nice solution will look transparent brown (lightly reddish). Once it goes opaque brown your solution will start throwing questionable results. You should be applying the "silver acid" directly to the item to be tested and you should file deep into it and test the file mark at least 1/2 mm deep. Cutting it and testing the center would be optimal. Personally I prefer to use the 18k method on the black stone as it is slightly more reliable for me. In my stores I don't authorize anyone but myself the owner to buy unmarked silver. If its not marked 90% plus its sterling, I don't care how many tests you did with acid. Silver plate esp on cutlery and serving ware tends to be pretty thick. Unmarked solid sterling silver is a very rare thing indeed, unless you are dealing with a significantly antique piece that's still marked with various sigil type markings, the word sterling or 925 should be prominently displayed. It's in the best interests of the manufacturer to make it obvious what it is.
What if it’s only silver plated? Are those marks deep enough into the object to detect a base metal below a thin layer of silver?
I would agree, the harder you can scratch onto the stone the more accurate the test. Lately I have been experimenting with 18 karat acid to test silver. Instead of turning a brownish red turns a whitish blue. I’ve seen a lot of people use this technique and I’m starting to see its benefits. Hope this answers your question👍
there so many different types of acid, so what kind of acid is used here ???
The stuff I picked up on Amazon was JSP, it was a kit of 10 K 14 K 18 K 22K and bottles for testing platinum and silver with the stone included. For me it has been important to verify with a piece of silver you know is for sure real to make sure everything’s working. I hope this answer helps
"silver acid" sold by JSP aka Schwerters solution does go bad. The solution in the video is on the edge of going bad. at my stores we wrap silver acid bottles with a double layer aluminum foil to reduce light contamination, we also mark date purchased throw away at 6 months. Fresh nice solution will look transparent brown (lightly reddish). Once it goes opaque brown your solution will start throwing questionable results.
You should be applying the "silver acid" directly to the item to be tested and you should file deep into it and test the file mark at least 1/2 mm deep. Cutting it and testing the center would be optimal.
Personally I prefer to use the 18k method on the black stone as it is slightly more reliable for me.
In my stores I don't authorize anyone but myself the owner to buy unmarked silver. If its not marked 90% plus its sterling, I don't care how many tests you did with acid. Silver plate esp on cutlery and serving ware tends to be pretty thick.
Unmarked solid sterling silver is a very rare thing indeed, unless you are dealing with a significantly antique piece that's still marked with various sigil type markings, the word sterling or 925 should be prominently displayed. It's in the best interests of the manufacturer to make it obvious what it is.