How to clean & seal Sterling Silver?
Sheri G.
I need to know how I can clean the silver and keep
it from tarnishing... I am looking for something that
will last at least a month.
Whatever solution there is for sealing it will have
to be ok for stone beads also...
Thanks in advance!!!
Sheri Graber (rose...@prairie.lakes.com) Mankato, Minnesota USA *
http://prairie.lakes.com/~roseleaf <-- A WWW Fibromyalgia Resource *
*********************************************************************
Mary Ker
: I am going to be making Sterling Silver Jewelry.
: I need to know how I can clean the silver and keep
: it from tarnishing... I am looking for something that
: will last at least a month.
: Whatever solution there is for sealing it will have
: to be ok for stone beads also...
: Thanks in advance!!!
: Sheri Graber (rose...@prairie.lakes.com) Mankato, Minnesota USA *
: http://prairie.lakes.com/~roseleaf <-- A WWW Fibromyalgia Resource *
IMHO, the nicest finish for silver is Rennaisance Wax, from a company called
Light Impressions. Sorry, I'm at work or I'd give you the phone number.
This is a microcrystaline wax that was developed for museum finishing, and can
be used on almost anything, from stone to paper to wood to metal. It is
virtually invisible when on, protects from tarnishing a good long while, and
protects from fingerprints, which really helps when your stuff is on display,
or just being worn. I love it.
Chuck Holcomb
>I am going to be making Sterling Silver Jewelry.
>I need to know how I can clean the silver and keep
>it from tarnishing... I am looking for something that
>will last at least a month.
>Whatever solution there is for sealing it will have
>to be ok for stone beads also...
Another good solution, which I use on my silver jewelry that I wear
every day, is called Tarni-Shield, from 3M. It is a polish/protectant,
which seals and lasts for quite a while, even when the jewelry is
being worn daily.
-
Chuck Holcomb
chu...@netheaven.com
"STICK"\'stik\n. 1:A boomerang that doesn't work."
John Fischer2
~ IMHO, the nicest finish for silver is Rennaisance Wax, from a company called
~ Light Impressions. Sorry, I'm at work or I'd give you the phone number.
~
~ This is a microcrystaline wax that was developed for museum finishing, and can
~ be used on almost anything, from stone to paper to wood to metal. It is
~ virtually invisible when on, protects from tarnishing a good long while, and
~ protects from fingerprints, which really helps when your stuff is on display,
~ or just being worn. I love it.
Where would someone find microcrystaline wax or Rennaisance Wax?
Mary Ker
: ~ IMHO, the nicest finish for silver is Rennaisance Wax, from a company called
: ~ Light Impressions. Sorry, I'm at work or I'd give you the phone number.
: ~ This is a microcrystaline wax that was developed for museum finishing, and can
: ~ be used on almost anything, from stone to paper to wood to metal. It is
: ~ virtually invisible when on, protects from tarnishing a good long while, and
: ~ protects from fingerprints, which really helps when your stuff is on display,
: ~ or just being worn. I love it.
: Where would someone find microcrystaline wax or Rennaisance Wax?
Now I'm at home and can dig up my catalog. You can call Light Impressions
at 1-800-828-6216.
Ken Wetz
>chu...@netheaven.com (Chuck Holcomb) wrote:
>>"Sheri G." <rose...@Prairie.Lakes.com> wrote:
>>
>>>I am going to be making Sterling Silver Jewelry.
>>>I need to know how I can clean the silver and keep
>>>it from tarnishing... I am looking for something that
>>>will last at least a month.
>>
>i use aluminum foil..washing soda and very hot..ie: boiling
>water..put a layer of foil in sink or container..add a handful of
>washing soda, and pour in boiling water..water a minute or two
>and the tarnish dissolves..great for fancy scrolled items..to
>protect us haggarty silver polish.
It will not work for all silver items, but I found regular car wax
applied and buffed out stops the tanish for quite awhile. I use it one
some items. Others , like those with lots of small nooks and crannys I
have to wipe wiht a silver cloth all the time ;(
Ken Wetz (kw...@acun.com) http://www.acun.com/~kwetz
Coming to you from warm and sunny South Venice Florida
Visit my rockhound page and leave your link in my link list.
Ann Holmes
It is rather expensive (10-15.00/yd), and you will probably have to
ask for it at the fabric store, but is the ideal way to store cleaned
and polished silver. You can either make small bags or simply lay the
pieces on the cloth and fold it over. The cloth looks like felt and
is usually dark brown or burgandy (its the stuff they use to line
silver chests) and actually contains tiny filaments of silver. Some
people find it irritating to the skin...........ooops, just noticed
you asked about cleaning and sealing only, NOT storage, well I'm going
to post this anyway, someone may find it usefull.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ann Holmes
aho...@nando.net
Tru
[snip]
>It will not work for all silver items, but I found regular car wax
>applied and buffed out stops the tanish for quite awhile. I use it one
>some items. Others , like those with lots of small nooks and crannys I
>have to wipe wiht a silver cloth all the time ;(
Hmm... better to put hte horse before the cart....
Use camphor in your closed storage container/area to help prevent tarnish
build up. My husband and I collect antique Georgian silver and place
camphor in our glass cabinets. This doesn't prevent tarnishing, but it
does inhibit it a great so we don't have to polish as frequently.
Mary Ker
: >"Sheri G." <rose...@Prairie.Lakes.com> wrote:
: >
: >>I am going to be making Sterling Silver Jewelry.
: >>I need to know how I can clean the silver and keep
: >>it from tarnishing... I am looking for something that
: >>will last at least a month.
: >>Whatever solution there is for sealing it will have
: >>to be ok for stone beads also...
: >
I like Renaissance wix from Light Impressions. It is dead easy to apply,
invisible once on, and protects from tarnish. It can be used on anything,
from metal to paper to wood. The realy nice feature is that it protects
from fingerprints, which are a problem when your shiny stuff is on
display somewhere. They can be reached at 1-800-828-6216. And no,
I don't work for them--just a very happer consumer.
Glenna Rand
>>applied and buffed out stops the tanish for quite awhile. I use it one
>>some items. Others , like those with lots of small nooks and crannys I
>>have to wipe wiht a silver cloth all the time ;(
>
a couple tablespoons of baking soda and hot water.
Submerse rings or whatever (silver) and within a few minutes of sitting
the tarnish will be gone. The rings have to touch the foil.
Enjoy.
--
Glenna Rand
g...@bungi.com
Steve Schurmann
>i use aluminum foil..washing soda and very hot..ie: boiling
>water..put a layer of foil in sink or container..add a handful of
>washing soda, and pour in boiling water..water a minute or two
>and the tarnish dissolves..great for fancy scrolled items..to
>protect us haggarty silver polish.
Alright you chemical gurus. Isn't this the formula for chemical
plating? Is the silver being plated onto the aluminum foil or
the other way around? If not, why the aluminum foil?
Schurmann Jewelers
68 East Main Street Amateur Radio Advanced Class
Moorestown, NJ 08057 N2FHL
(609) 727-9484
Luinrandir Hernsen
: >washing soda, and pour in boiling water..water a minute or two
: >and the tarnish dissolves..great for fancy scrolled items..to
: >protect us haggarty silver polish.
: Alright you chemical gurus. Isn't this the formula for chemical
: plating? Is the silver being plated onto the aluminum foil or
: the other way around? If not, why the aluminum foil?
My thought is this, If the silver is recieving a thin coat of aluminum,
them the item will not tarnish easily, as aluminum oxidizes only on the
surface and is not noticable where as silver turns black.... sounds like
an experiment needs to be done!
--
ATTENTION ARTISTS AND SHOP OWNERS!! We make silver jewelry and custom
items for wholesale and retail. We specialize in Celtic, Medieval,
Religious / Magickal, and Art Nouveau. Please reply E-mail.
=========Luinrandir Hernsen, P.O.Box 141324, Columbus, Ohio 43214=========
James T. Bober
silver sulfide.
The basic chemistry is as follows. When you immerse the tarnished silver
in an electrolyte [you can use "table salt" (sodium chloride), "baking
soda" (sodium bicarbonate), "washing soda" (sodium carbonate), or the like
in water] and introduce another metal, which is electrically connected to
the silver (i.e. by touching the two together) you are forming an
electrochemical cell. As with all electrochemical cells, *oxidation* (the
depletion of electrons) will occur at one terminal while *reduction* (the
accumulation of electrons) will occur at the other. The electrical
contact between the two metals provides the pathway for electron migration
to occur from "anode" to "cathode". In the case of silver, if you
properly choose the other metal so that it is "anodic" relative to silver,
then each of the silver ions comprising the tarnish (silver sulfide) will
gain electrons and revert to silver in the zero-valence state (i.e.
metallic silver), while atoms of the other metal will be oxidized by the
corresponding removal of an equal number of electrons. Meanwhile, to
maintain charge balance, the negatively charged sulfide ions will migrate
from the silver to the other metal via the pathway offered by the
conductive electrolyte solution. At the anode, the negatively charged
sulfide ions will collect with the positively charged metallic ions to
form the sulfide of the anode metal. This process comes to an end when
all silver ions are reduced to silver metal. Choosing the anode metal is
easy. Basically, any metal that has a higher "oxidation potential" than
silver is a candidate. Such a determination can be made by referring to a
table known as the "electromotive series of the elements", available in
most chemistry books. Among the many metals that will work, the more
practical ones (i.e. cheap and commonly available) are (in increasing
order of preference):
lead (least preferred)-->tin-->nickel-->
-->iron-->zinc-->aluminum-->magnesium (most preferred)
So, you can see why aluminum is popular.
There are some more advanced features to this chemistry:
1) If aluminum is used as the anode, the surface will eventually be coated
with a non-conducting and insoluble film of aluminum sulfide, in
proportion to the rate at which silver sulfide is reduced to metallic
silver. As a result, the efficiency of the anode will gradually decrease
until eventually the entire immersed surface of aluminum is coated with
sulfide and the anode becomes useless in completing the electrical
circuit. This can be overcome by using baking soda or washing soda as the
electrolyte. These electrolytes are better at causing the evolution of
hydrogen at the tarnished silver surface which will combine with sulfide
to form hydrogen sulfide (a gas), before the aluminum is sacrificed.
Hence, the slight smell of rotting eggs when silver is cleaned in this
way.
Jim
in the presence of reducing - you can use aluminum - the silver ions at
the surface (i.e. those that were oxidized to silver sulfide) will revert
to zero-valence silver (i.e. metallic silver), while on the other side of
the circuit
In article <4hk41m$o...@acme.freenet.columbus.oh.us>,
Ann J. Shjefte
source. Thanks. Ann
Steve Schurmann wrote:
>
> hag...@qucdn.queensu.ca wrote:
>
> >i use aluminum foil..washing soda and very hot..ie: boiling
> >water..put a layer of foil in sink or container..add a handful of
> >washing soda, and pour in boiling water..water a minute or two
> >and the tarnish dissolves..great for fancy scrolled items..to
> >protect us haggarty silver polish.
>
> Alright you chemical gurus. Isn't this the formula for chemical
> plating? Is the silver being plated onto the aluminum foil or
> the other way around? If not, why the aluminum foil?
> Schurmann Jewelers
> 68 East Main Street Amateur Radio Advanced Class
> Moorestown, NJ 08057 N2FHL
> (609) 727-9484
Opinions expressed herein are my own and may not represent those of 3M.
LIBRON
work well, but my problem over the years has been once I have the piece of
silver such as serving pieces or platters and such clean, how do I retard
the oxidation. I have been using a trick that has really helped me in the
retail. After cleaning the piece, I give it a light but complete spray of
laquer hair spray. You may have to try several to see which works for
you, but be sure it is not a water base spray. This seems to seal the
peice from the atmosphere which retards oxidation. When you sell the
piece, simply wash off the hair spray. I have had many customers reply to
me later that it has been quite a time saving practice.