What goes wrong

It corroded, or it got mixed

On this page11

The pickle pot was the wrong plastic The cap corroded shut Steel went into the pickle The patina solution degraded in light The solder grades got mixed The scrap got mixed Filings were swept in with everything else The polishing compound picked up grit The wire tangled and work-hardened The fix is one jar per thing, sealed and labelled References

Mixed scrap is worth less than sorted scrap. That is a container failure with a price on it.

The pickle pot was the wrong plastic

Warm acid held continuously finds a resin that would be fine cold. 80 PP and 50 glass containers here are the candidates and the rest are not.

The cap corroded shut

An acid or an oxidiser against a liner that could not take it. The first symptom is a lid that will not turn, and by then the closure is finished.

Steel went into the pickle

Bench lore with a real basis: ferrous metal in pickle plates copper onto everything in the pot. A tool mistake rather than a container one and it ruins a whole batch of work.

The patina solution degraded in light

30 amber containers on this shelf. Several blackening solutions lose strength, and the result is a piece that will not take the finish and a maker blaming their technique.

The solder grades got mixed

Hard, medium and easy look identical in the metal. Mixed, they are unusable as graded solder and the joint behaves unpredictably.

The scrap got mixed

Which is the expensive one. Mixed-alloy scrap refines at a discount because the refiner has to assay and separate it, and a sorted jar is worth more than the same metal unsorted.

Filings were swept in with everything else

Bench sweeps contain abrasive, wood and grit along with precious metal. Kept in their own sealed container they are recoverable; mixed into clean scrap they downgrade it.

The polishing compound picked up grit

An open tub on a bench. One steel filing in a rouge is a scratch across every piece polished after it.

The wire tangled and work-hardened

Coiled wire stored loose, repeatedly pulled at. This shelf has one tube and no tall storage, which is the leaf served worst here.

The fix is one jar per thing, sealed and labelled

Grade, alloy and gauge in words on the body of the container. It is the dullest advice in this property and it is worth the most per gram.

References

The archetype behind this shelf is ind-chemical: 100 to 20,000 mL, narrow mouth, HDPE and glass, light sensitive, child resistant, poured, with "chemical resistance is the entire decision, check the resin chart first" as its stated reason. It describes the pickle and patina half of the craft and not the metal half, and the shelf disagrees with it: 224 of 286 containers are jars.

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 19 October 2026. The jewelry metalwork shelf is 617 rows: 286 containers and 331 closures. 15 mL to 9,464 mL with a median of 237; 12 containers at 30 mL or under, 104 at 120 or under, 214 at a pint or under. 117 PET, 80 PP, 50 glass, 38 HDPE. 224 jars, 41 bottles, 19 tubs and pails, 1 jug, 1 tube. 89 clear, 74 white, 39 natural, 30 amber, 26 black. Closures: 248 continuous thread, 22 dome lids, 18 lug and twist, 12 child resistant, 10 round tubs, 9 liners and sealing discs, 5 phenolic, 5 specialty.

15 U.S.C. 295. For a gold article, the actual fineness "shall not be less by more than three one-thousandth parts" than the marked fineness. For the entire article including solder, the divergence shall "not be less by more than three one-thousandth parts" for watchcases and flatware and "not be less by more than seven one-thousandth parts" for other articles. Silver tolerances are at 15 U.S.C. 296 and were not read for this property. law.cornell.edu

Written from 15 U.S.C. 295 and 297, and from the catalog as it stood on 19 October 2026. Silver tolerances at 15 U.S.C. 296 were not read for this property and are not summarized. The FTC Jewelry Guides at 16 CFR part 23 govern how jewelry is described and are a separate body of rules. Pickle and patina chemistry is a safety data sheet question and no handling advice is given here.