"Jordan" wrote in message
u...
Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:

Hydrochloric acid doesn't seem to eat steel, at least not quickly.

No, it dissolves steel, too, and likely at about the same speed as
sulfuric.
I don't recall if it dissolves nickel, which is the real issue.


I wonder if the glycerin, which is in the recipe for the solution, is
supposed to somehow prevent the steel from dissolving?
I guess not, as I'm using it but the steel gets attacked anyway.
In which case, I've no idea why it's there - just following instructions.

Jordan

Good point. It may, indeed, act as a buffer. I have no plating experience,
only experience in dissolving various metals from my years working as a
precious metal refiner. I can't help but think you're going to have to
resort to mechanical means in this case. I did a lot of stripping using
cyanide and had a similar problem when stripping copper based alloys. Once
you get exposure of the base metal, the wrong things start reacting and what
you're trying to remove quits cooperating. Buffered solutions helped, but
are not a cure-all.

Harold