Help: silver left in cleaning dip too long
starscapes
cleaner.
Its a sterling silver necklace, and I just used the cleaner by
Sterling
Works. I left the necklace in for way too long and now the silver
isn't shiny anymore. It looks sort of matted. How can I fix this?
I read somewhere that it must be resilvered? How does that work?
Can someone give me some links about resilvering? Is there an
easier way to fix this?
Many thanks
Ted Frater
My guess is your thinking of fixing it in your home.
So whats suitable? the easiest and safest is a tooth brush and tooth
paste.
Now the way to do it is this.
Cut the bristles on say a new tooh brush down by about 1/8th in.
making the brush slightly rouned.
then get a piece of say 1in by 1/in wood on to which you will fix the
necklase/
thread a thin piece of string through one end and tie off on the wood.
Thread another piece of the same type of string through the other end
and tighten the necklase on the wood, gently!! and similarly tie off.
Now wet the necklace with water, apply some tooth paste to the brush and
brush lemgthwise along the silver.
have a rinse off and look to see how your progressing.
If its coming up shiny the doall along the silver.
rinse off. untie and repeat the process on the other side.
rinse off well and dry off by laying on a paper towel , roll the paper
in line ith the necklase and press gently on a flat surface.
Put somewhere to dry off like in an airing cupboard for an hour or so.
That hould restore it nicely.
Dont under any circumstances try and repolish with any rotary tool.
very dangerous.
Finally would appreciate how you got on ....
Me@wme
heard the sounds of a voice named Ted Frater <ted.f...@virgin.net>
crying out from afar, saying:
>starscapes wrote:
>> I goofed and forgot my about the necklace I left in the silver
>> cleaner.
>> Its a sterling silver necklace, and I just used the cleaner by
>> Sterling
>> Works. I left the necklace in for way too long and now the silver
>> isn't shiny anymore. It looks sort of matted. How can I fix this?
>> I read somewhere that it must be resilvered? How does that work?
>> Can someone give me some links about resilvering? Is there an
>> easier way to fix this?
>>
>> Many thanks
>
>My guess is your thinking of fixing it in your home.
> So whats suitable? the easiest and safest is a tooth brush and tooth
>paste.
SOOoooooo! YOU'RE the one!
I always wondered who the putz was that told the public to use
toothpaste to polish jewelry!
Hey OP, take your jewelry to a REAL jeweler and ask him to fix it for
you.
In my shop I'd charge you $10.00 (The minimum charge.)
DON'T USE TOOTHPASTE TO "POLISH" JEWELRY! IT'S ABRASIVE AND WILL
_DULL_ IT!
Back from the shadows again!
Peter W.. Rowe,
>>SOOoooooo! YOU'RE the one!
>>I always wondered who the putz was that told the public to use
>>toothpaste to polish jewelry!
>>
>>Hey OP, take your jewelry to a REAL jeweler and ask him to fix it for
>>you.
>>In my shop I'd charge you $10.00 (The minimum charge.)
>>
>>DON'T USE TOOTHPASTE TO "POLISH" JEWELRY! IT'S ABRASIVE AND WILL
>>_DULL_ IT!
don't blame the OP. The toothpaste thing is a widespread misconception.
AND, it's not always wrong. It WILL dull nicely polished surfaces, of course,
but it's just fine for light cleaning and light tarnish removal on items that
have, and are intended to have, a more satin or matte finish. One needs to
avoid it for anything that's got a nice shine to it, or that will be dulled. Key
in this is the area around stone settings. People try to clean their diamond
rings with toothpaste, and that's a problem since those areas under and around
prongs, etc, are generally highly polished gold or platinum, and being recessed
would otherwise stay that way. So the toothpaste there, is damaging,and
sometimes hard to restore later. But for tarnished dulled silver? Not so bad.
The polish has already been lost to the tarnishing process, and if one just
wants to clean it a bit, rather than restoring the shine, the toothpaste isn't
such an evil thing. There are better polishing agents of course, and better
tarnish removers. But one might not have them in the bathroom already...
Personally, I'd rather see people clean their jewelry just with a soak in a hot
solution of water and a good liquid household detergent, perhaps with a bit of
ammonia. Then just the soft toothbrush without toothpaste will disloge stubborn
dirt.
Peter
Me@wme
heard the sounds of a voice named "Peter W.. Rowe,"
<rec.craft...@earthlink.net> crying out from afar, saying:
>On Tue, 11 Dec 2007 08:59:59 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry Me@WMe wrote:
>
>>>SOOoooooo! YOU'RE the one!
>>>I always wondered who the putz was that told the public to use
>>>toothpaste to polish jewelry!
>>>
>>>Hey OP, take your jewelry to a REAL jeweler and ask him to fix it for
>>>you.
>>>In my shop I'd charge you $10.00 (The minimum charge.)
>>>
>>>DON'T USE TOOTHPASTE TO "POLISH" JEWELRY! IT'S ABRASIVE AND WILL
>>>_DULL_ IT!
>
>don't blame the OP. The toothpaste thing is a widespread misconception.
No, I wasn't. I was just 'advising' the OP not to attempt to use
toothpaste on his/her jewelry.
On a similar note of: Using the Wrong Stuff to Polish the Wrong Thing
But it Sometimes Works Department: I've found that that diamond spray
stuff that GRS sells to polish gravers on their PowerHone machine does
a bang-up job on my teeth. It's a small enough particle to actually
polish rather than grind off all my enamel, though I wouldn't suggest
using it more than once or twice a year, and anyway it's suspended in
rubbing alcohol and tastes like doo doo.
Just my 2=A2
....out where an injuns' yer friend...
>
>AND, it's not always wrong. It WILL dull nicely polished surfaces, of c=
ourse,
>but it's just fine for light cleaning and light tarnish removal on items=
that
>have, and are intended to have, a more satin or matte finish. One needs=
to
>avoid it for anything that's got a nice shine to it, or that will be dul=
led. Key
>in this is the area around stone settings. People try to clean their di=
amond
>rings with toothpaste, and that's a problem since those areas under and =
around
>prongs, etc, are generally highly polished gold or platinum, and being r=
ecessed
>would otherwise stay that way. So the toothpaste there, is damaging,and
>sometimes hard to restore later. But for tarnished dulled silver? Not s=
o bad.
>The polish has already been lost to the tarnishing process, and if one j=
ust
>wants to clean it a bit, rather than restoring the shine, the toothpaste=
isn't
>such an evil thing. There are better polishing agents of course, and be=
tter
>tarnish removers. But one might not have them in the bathroom already..=
.
>Personally, I'd rather see people clean their jewelry just with a soak i=
n a hot
>solution of water and a good liquid household detergent, perhaps with a =
bit of
>ammonia. Then just the soft toothbrush without toothpaste will disloge =
stubborn
>dirt.
>
>Peter
Al Balmer
>I've found that that diamond spray
>stuff that GRS sells to polish gravers on their PowerHone machine does
>a bang-up job on my teeth. It's a small enough particle to actually
>polish rather than grind off all my enamel, though I wouldn't suggest
>using it more than once or twice a year, and anyway it's suspended in
>rubbing alcohol and tastes like doo doo.
There may be some lubricant in there, too. I add a bit of WD-40 when I
make diamond spray.
What grit size do you recommend for polishing teeth? <g>
--
Al Balmer
Sun City, AZ