Hand push is plenty. However, my experience is that with pneumatic, if you simply guide the graver and don't push at all, it controls the slips. Go easy on the power and believe me it takes discipline to not push!
Dani,
First of all, your work looks great.
The way I learned annealing we heat to the dark red glow then quench directly in the pickle, then neutralize in the baking soda water. (I bet Douglas Pryor quenching in the soda water first gets the majority of the flaky scale off first and saves him...
Electroplating would be one way. It involves running an electric current through the work while it's submerged in some acid baths, to build up molecules of the plated metal on the host metal. The solutions are specific to different metal combinations.
There are pen style plating setups where...
I am also very interested in this topic. I live in the cold swamplands of Michigan where everything flash rusts.
Naval jelly and rust remover dips are phosphoric acid, and toilet bowl cleaner is hydrochloric typically. Do either really leave a layer of oxides that protect from rust? Some...