Stripping Rhodium Plating

[nicoleanne]

I've surfed the archives and while there is lots of discussion about rhodium plating, I've yet to find anyone who's actually had rhodium plating stripped successfully from a piece of jewelry.

Someone mentioned here on PS that you could chemically/electrically strip this plating. But after googling, I'm not finding much verification. Is it really possible? Does every jeweler have the ability to do this? Has anyone done it?

I ask because my ering is unplated white gold. It blends in with my skin and just doesn't flatter. I'd like to have it plated but it has some detail and if I change my mind later, I'd hate to have weird leftover spots of rhodium where it couldn't be polished off.

 

[TC1987]

Any polish will eventually remove it. Toothpaste + toothbrush, Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish, Simochrome, etc. It doesn't take a lot of force. Just light polishing.

 

[nicoleanne]

I have had a several white gold rings and am familiar with how the rhodium wears over time in the "high traffic" areas - palm side, prong tips, high spots, etc. I'm thinking about, say, the underside/inside of the bezel of my ring. Not really an easy access area to polish with anything, hence my interest in a process that would remove rhodium in one fell swoop.

 

[diamond-enthusiast]

I think it is possible for jewelers to mechanically polish the layer off and leave the bare white gold underneath exposed.

 

[oldminer]

It can be electronically stripped off and it also can mostly be polished off, too. If you are a person who examines their jewelry with a microscope to find "issues" then you might find that neither method removes all the rhodium perfectly. If you are more of a person who examines things are 20 inches, then a tiny amount of remaining rhodium would not be noticeable to you or anyone else who looks at the ring......What are you own expectations? Over time the rhodium will wear off gradually and by then you might get used to the shiny white highlights that remain while getting more visible off white from the naked white gold.