maintaining silver rope chains
WENDY WENG
hello!
how is a silver rope chain best kept so that it will not turn dark
in the crevices? i can only reach so much with the polishing cloth!
thanks!
relaine
:)
stephen kilnisan
>hello!
>thanks!
>relaine
>:)
try some silver dip. available in most jewelery supply stores. just
dip your piece in and no need to use polish cloths.
steve
a very happy jeweler to the web: http://www.diamonds.net/babylon
PeterWRowe
In article <ntaglass-ya023180...@news.sonic.net>,
ntag...@sonic.net (Jeanne Kent) writes:
>
>I'd appreciate pointers on that also. I use a lot of fine rope in the
work
>I sell and the inventory tarnished so badly. I have had to resort to the
>dip-it stuff, which MUST be hard on the silver and leaves it TOO new
>looking.
>
>On this subject--Does anyone know of a source for silver cloth - and
would
>it work well enough to line drawers with it, or should silver be stored
in
>bags like our grandmothers did?
>
For Inventory, the stuff nicely stored in closed areas like showcases, or
better yet, bagged or otherwise packaged, there is an effective
antitarnish paper made by 3M. You simply include a small piece of the
paper in the package, and it keeps it from tarnishing, without harming
existing intentional oxidation.
For items in use, however, there is little that you can use that will
effectively prevent tarnish, if the chain has not been rhodium plated.
This is, of course, one option. Use and wear rhodium finished sterling
chain. It will stay clean. But of course, the color is that of the
rhodium, not the nice clean white of sterling. And that's a really big
"gotcha" for many of us...
The dip it cleaners are fairly good at removing tarnish, but do not
replace the finish. They leave tarnished areas white in color again, but
dull and unpolished. This can sometimes end up looking dingier than the
tarnish. I generally recommend to my customers that they use traditional
silver polishes, such as the creams and liquids, on a soft cloth, or
easier, the treated cloths, such as the blitz cloths. These, however,
only brighten up the outside accessable areas of the chain. It is,
nevertheless, a great improvement.
For the really "hard cases", I do the renovation myself in the shop.
Usually I clean the tarnish off with a cyanide dip, which is faster than
the thiurea based products like tarnex, and tends to leave a whiter more
attractive color in those cleaned areas. Also, because it's actually
dissolving material a little, the cleaned areas seem to be a little less
dull, even though they are not quite the original polished finish. Then
the chains get either hand polished with a blitz cloth, often all they
need, or more extensively buffed out on a buffing machine.
Obviously, the cyanide chemistries are beyond what non-professionals
should be doing, and most not jewelry makers won't have buffing equipment
either, so this is less useful for the end users wanting to maintain their
own jewelry.
For larger sizes of rope chains, it can also be very effective to toss the
chain into a tumbler with some steel shot for a short while. It doesn't
take very long to do a wonderfull job of cleaing up almost all the nooks
and crannies you cannot otherwise reach. You don't want to leave it in
very long, or it can start to deform the chain, and you have to be careful
not to do this to fragile chains, or those with hollow areas that can trap
and fill up with steel shot. We've also got a magnetic tumbler, which
uses very small diameter steel needlelike pins, rather than traditional
steel shot. These are good at getting even farther into the nooks and
crannies of chains to burnish them bright, and works even faster. But
this isn't a cheap machine, folks. So that's most likely not a very
useful bit of advice if you don't have such equipment available..
For the home user and owner of silver chains and jewelry, the most useful
advise I can suggest is to get used to a certain amount of
tarnish/oxidation in the protected areas of the chain. Think of it as
color contrast, just as it's used intentionally in much silver handmade
jewelry. The chain, even with such recessed tarnish, can be kept bright
and attractive nevertheless, if you keep the outsides of the links bright
and shiny with occasional use of a rouge or treated polishing cloth.
Although this is a different look than the completely white and bright
look the chains had when new, so long as a significant part of the chain
is clean and bright, the overall effect will be attractive.
Hope this helps.
Peter Rowe
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter W. Rowe M.F.A., G.G.
Commercial and custom jeweler and metalsmith
Graduate Gemologist and Lapidary
Opinions expressed here are solely my own....... and subject to change
according to my mood and the state of my art ....
No extra charge for smiles and friendship to those who return it
'Cause life's too short and if we're not having fun, then why be here?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeanne Kent
In article <557t1o$6...@news.jhu.edu>, rel...@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu
(WENDY WENG ) wrote:
> hello!
>
> how is a silver rope chain best kept so that it will not turn dark
> in the crevices? i can only reach so much with the polishing cloth!
>
> thanks!
> relaine
> :)
I'd appreciate pointers on that also. I use a lot of fine rope in the work
I sell and the inventory tarnished so badly. I have had to resort to the
dip-it stuff, which MUST be hard on the silver and leaves it TOO new
looking.
On this subject--Does anyone know of a source for silver cloth - and would
it work well enough to line drawers with it, or should silver be stored in
bags like our grandmothers did?
Jeanne
--
Jeanne Kent
New Terra Artifacts
http://www.sonic.net/~ntaglass
Fused glass, flamework and custom jewelry
Jean Mahavier
Jeanne Kent <ntag...@sonic.net> wrote:
>
>On this subject--Does anyone know of a source for silver cloth - and would
>it work well enough to line drawers with it, or should silver be stored in
>bags like our grandmothers did?
>
>Jeanne
>--
>Jeanne Kent
>New Terra Artifacts
>http://www.sonic.net/~ntaglass
>Fused glass, flamework and custom jewelry
Many fabric stores (try Hancock's or Cloth World) carry silver
cloth, but you have to ask for it, it often is not out where it
can be found. I think the silver needs to be inside a bag, or
wrapped, so as to keep air from it. That way the silver dust in
the cloth gets the tarnish, not what you wrapped up.
Please correct me if this is not right.
Jean, a lurker who loves jewelry.
Liz Featherstone
I also work with a lot of silver chain I find that the best method is to by a $40.00 Speed brite and the cleaner that goes with it.
All you do is clip the alligator clip to the chain and put in the solution for 4 seconds (for Silver) then take out and dry with a
polishing cloth. It quick and very easy. I find that using silver dip makes the silver tarnish faster. I never polish a chain on a buffing wheel I personally find it dangerous.
Never leave the chain in the speed brite for longer than 4 secs. because it burns the metal and leaves black marks which are extremely hard to clean. But even with
this I still feel this is the fastes, safest way to clean silver.
Liz Featherstone
Sterling Silver Manufacture
>
Regis Galbach
Liz Featherstone <lizfe...@naplesnet.com> wrote:
>I also work with a lot of silver chain I find that the best method is to by a $40.00 Speed brite and the cleaner that goes with it.=
>All you do is clip the alligator clip to the chain and put in the solution for 4 seconds (for Silver) then take out and dry with a
buffing wheel I personally find it dangerous.
ely hard to clean. But even with
>this I still feel this is the fastes, safest way to clean silver.
>
>Liz Featherstone
>Sterling Silver Manufacture
>>
>
Thanks for the tip & the 4 second guidance. I've had the same concern.
Just got off the phone ordering a Speed Brite (the small $37 one). I'll
get to try it tomorrow!
Do you have a set time for gold? Do you (should you) have a seperate
unit for gold?
tx,
Regis