Rodico and German (Nickel) Silver

[horomagical]

Hello, I am curious if (clean, fresh) Rodico is safe to use on nickel silver - like on A. Lange Sohne watches.

 

Thanks

[spectre6000]

Can't think of any reason it wouldn't be. Never heard of it causing issues. Nickel silver is cheap, so if you're super worried, it won't be difficult to find something to test on. No idea where you're located, but I'll bet you can find some bauble or another at a thrift store for a buck.

[nickelsilver]

There are numerous different alloys of nickel silver with widely varying nickel content. I would be really cautious about using it on a Lange. Most manufacturers have banned the use of it in their workshops. It has its place, but gets abused. But in general I have found that aside from an outright fingerprint nickel/german silver is fairly resistant to staining. But I have also seen it quite stained- including "burned in" fingerprints. Rodico is supposed to not leave a residue, but I don't believe that's true. If it's been fresh cut from an uncontaminated block, and not touched by fingers (or fingercots that are unclean), it's probably fine.

[mikepilk]

2 hours ago, horomagical said:

Hello, I am curious if (clean, fresh) Rodico is safe to use on nickel silver - like on A. Lange Sohne watches.

Don't bother with the Rodico Premium (the grey stuff) - it's rubbish, I regret buying it.  It's more sticky and gooey than the regular stuff.

2 hours ago, spectre6000 said:

Nickel silver is cheap

I thought so 

[horomagical]

Thanks for responses  what would be appropriate for picking dust up from a nickel silver plate (outside of a full teardown and clean?)

[nickelsilver]

9 hours ago, horomagical said:

Thanks for responses  what would be appropriate for picking dust up from a nickel silver plate (outside of a full teardown and clean?)

Something like this is good: adhesive head swab

 

Honestly, clean, new Rodico shouldn't do anything. If you are just picking off dust particles, that is. If you start mashing and swabbing it all over, no. I know a girl who is an absolute expert with Rodico; she takes freshly sharpened pegwood, and twists it just so in new clean Rodico, and picks off a little piece on the end of the pegwood. That gets used to pick off little bits of dust on the movement, kind of like the above swabs. On a tourbillon with sapphire plate and bridges you have to be clean! (Of course sapphire can't stain...)

 

Price-wise, probably depends on what one considers cheap. I bought a bar 50mm diameter 500mm long last month, that was 500 bucks. I guess considering how many parts can be made from it that's pretty cheap . I bought some 1.5mm plate that was 8 bucks a plate (50x200x1.5), but by weight it's more than twice the price of the bar. And the bar is much better quality.

Edited July 6, 2023 by nickelsilver