Nitric Acid is extremely toxic and hazardous to consume. This is well documented elsewhere. Ferric chloride is a distinguished safer alternative but nitric acid is extremely snappily.
You need:
Masks, glasses and thick protective gloves
2 plastic buckets, baking soda, plastic tongs
Beeswax, aluminum foil (optional), white spirits
Preparation of jewelry:
Use beeswax only. The easiest way is to melt the wax and paint the section with 2 coats using a puny brush. This can give a bumpy surface, so requires extra care when carving the make into the wax, and care in cleaning leftover wax residue. However, you can acquire a nice thick uniform coat, by shaping a allotment of aluminum foil, into a mold, to the size of the jewelry. Pour in the melted wax, then the metal, and allow it to frigid. Peel off the aluminum.
The aluminum draw has the advantage of making the wax easier to map on and reduce. If the wax layer is 2 millimeters thick, then entire chunks can be slit out, leaving no residue on the metal, and requiring no further cleaning. The thinner the wax coat, as in the two coats procedure, the more likely the wax will need to be scraped off, leaving slow some residue.
If there is residue, soak a cotton wool bud in some white spirit solution and shipshape off. If you do not orderly off, even dinky amounts of residue will affect the ability of the acid to corrode and the ruin appearance of the engraving. In addition, I bag a thick 2 millimeter wax layer gives better definition and sharpness, particularly to geometric patterns, corners and edges. Nitric Acid works substantial with brass and copper, not so well with nickel silver/alloy.
Prepare your Nitric Acid Bath:
Nitric acid is not worth organizing for individual pieces, because it is too toxic. Instead, minimize your usage and exposure by doing lots of jewelry pieces at once. I utilize it perhaps 3 times a year.
state up your acid bath outdoors. I would never expend it indoors. Ensure no pets or strays have access. It only takes around 15-25 minutes to etch, so support an discover on the bath at all times. Do not consume thin metals, otherwise they will burn through. Wear gloves, masks and glasses at all times.
expend a plastic bucket for the acid bath. The usual ratio is 1:1, nitric acid to water, for metals like brass and copper. The nitric ratio is distinguished weaker for silver. If no fizzing occurs after a few minutes, add a microscopic more acid. expend the plastic tongs to check the pieces, but hold this minimal because picking them up, damages the wax and can waste the do. area the pieces next to each other, not on top of each other, this also damages the wax.
Dilute some baking soda in a bucket of water nearby. Once etched, transfer the jewelry to the solution of soda/water. Then rub each allotment further with dry baking soda. Rinse with positive water and dry.
Disposing of Nitric Acid:
Do not pour down the sink or toilet. Neutralize the acid bath by pouring in some baking soda. Eventually it stops fizzing and is neutralized. I then pour the neutralized solution in the garden, followed by lots of water.