Tarnishing nickel?

[longcruise]

Hope this is the right place to pose this question.

I want to tarnish some nickel plated strap keepers and wonder what would work to do that.?  Any and all suggestions welcome.

[J I]

I'm not sure if it would work for nickel but I found a site that suggests using hard boiled egg yolks with onion and garlic as well. I wouldn't put it in the microwave as the last post suggests.
http://www.finishing.com/114/91.shtml

[Hungry Horse]

The very reason late percussion gunsmiths, and early cartridge gun builders used nickel was because it didn't tarnish. This question is like asking how to stain stainless. That being said, I do know some browning solutions will age stainless, but have no experience with nickel.

   Hungry Horse

[Horner75]

Are you positive those buckles are nickel? .. The reason I ask, is that a lot of buckles and other metal items are actually "Chromed" and advertised as Nickel. Check with Fire Mountain Gem Jewelers Supply.  They used to sell a solution to tarnish Nickel.

Rick

[Chuck Burrows]

If the pieces really are nickel plated it will definitely tarnish over time or you can speed the process by using Birch-Wood Casey's Super Blue (not their Perma Blue). This is a cold blue developed for bluing nickel steel barrels and it works great on all types/percentages of nickel silver aka German Silver. When I mention percentages it's because nickel silver alloys are available in various amounts of nickel. The lesser amount of nickel in some alloys will tend to get a yellowish cast to them rather than the more whitish/blue of the higher percentage alloys.
FWIW - I've been using nickel silver and aging it professionally for 40+ years. I've also used a lot of "stainless" of various types and comparing nickel isn't necessarily a good one since nickel is very easy to tarnish/age compared to stainless. While stainless is tough to tarnish it can be done to a good many of the alloys using heat and acid - beyond that even the best stainless is not 100% corrosion proof based on the military tests.
The original impetus for nickel silver was a quality and less expensive material than Silver - either bulk or Sterling. A similar alloy was developed in China and was known as paktong. It was imported into Europe from about 1600 on. In the 1770's the Germans first produced a similar alloy. In 1823 a German competition was held to perfect the production process: the goal was to develop an alloy that possessed the closest visual similarity to silver. Two different companies won the prize and in 1832 the English came out with their version.

[longcruise]

Thanks, Chuck, I have some super blue on hand and will try it.

[Chuck Burrows]

You are most welcome - One thing to watch for is the nickel parts may have a clear lacquer which will need to be removed before bluing. 4/0 Steel wool ro lacquer thinner and a scrub pad work well to remove any finish.

[longcruise]

Gave it a try without success.  Package says nickel plated, but maybe it's not.  Or,  maybe the super blue is aged out.   Also,  did not see your advice about scrubbing it till just now.  Going to give that a try.

[longcruise]

It did have a coating on it and tarnished up with it removed.   Thanks, Chuck.

[Chuck Burrows]

Yep that finish can be a bugger if you don't know it's there and you are most welcome..