Zinc Test for those who haven't tried Muriatic Acid!

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Just a little Muriatic acid will Tell the Tale.

Sam :D

[Jim]

Hey, Sam!
How 'bout some detailed instructions?

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Jim.

All you go is put a little muriatic acid on it, if zinc is present it will fizz like crazy, Then you get the Snotty looking mess in the picture.

Sam :D

[oneokie]

Stay up wind of the fumes.

[Marlin Hunter]

Jim.

All you go is put a little muriatic acid on it, if zinc is present it will fizz like crazy, Then you get the Shotty looking mess in the picture.

Sam :D

I assume this is done with COLD ingots not a pot full of hot lead.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Not hot, Just wish I had thought of it before we put it in the pot.

Sam :D

[Edubya]

Where did you get your muratic acid from?
EW

[lwknight]

Any hardware store. Its about $4.00 per gallon. You will find it in the paint dept. Its used mainly to prep concrete or etch concrete.
Muratic acid is a very diluted hydrocloric acid.
Pure hydrocloric acid is extremely dangerous and requires special handling.

[Jim]

For those of you that have not handled muriatic acid, PLEASE!!, BE VERY CAREFUL. That's some nastystuff.

[lwknight]

Nasty stuff for sure. I'm bad to forget that there are a lot of people/readers that may not be industrially experienced and aware of inherent hazards that some of just take for granted that everyone should just know.

Muratic acid will destroy your cotton clothing if splashed on. You might think that you rinse it off but, in a few weeks a hole will appear after the wash cycle.

It will burn like mad if it gets on your skin. No serious injury is likely if you wash it off quickly.

Safety glasses, eeerr .. better yet goggles are highly recommended. A splash might not blind you but, will certainly ruin yer day or maybe week even.

[jnovotny]

You can use bakeing soda to nuterlize the acid, if you were to spill any. That will stop it from continueing to do its job.

[ETG]

Muratic acid can also be found at swimming pools supply stores / Home Depot. Do not use indoors. The vapors will rust any ferrous metal in the general area.

[Cadillo]

Muratic acid can also be found at swimming pools supply stores / Home Depot. Do not use indoors. The vapors will rust any ferrous metal in the general area.

I once stored a bottle on a shelf about two feet from my new stainless parkerizing tanks. Rusted the heck out of them before I noticed. Really played havoc with some paint cans too. I'll never keep the stuff at home again.

[Zbench]

All,

Muriatic acid is the same as hydrochloric acid. The stuff sold in hardware stores is pretty strong. If you dilute 4:1 with water, it would be less dangerous to work with and still fizz when you drop the ww's into it.

Just remember two things. ALWAYS pour the concentrated acid into water, not the other way around.

Second, the gas that is fizzing off of the WWs is Hydrogen gas. If you do it in an enclosed space and do it enough, you could risk an explosion like the Hindenburg.

Obviously, the acid will only react with the Zinc WWs, not those which are lead.

Pete

[Tom W.]

When I worked with the local monument company we used muriatic acid on an almost daily basis to clean marble gravestones. Bubbled like crazy, and we had to make sure we rinsed, then washed, then thoroughly rinsed again...