I need a Silver Smith to help me.

[vesta111]

Ok so I am a silver junkie,   I inherited a bunch of sterling silver from family.   Most of the stuff had been wrapped up in some kind of product to keep the air out.

I wander about the flee markets looking for the nasty stuff all black and looking useless as I know Silver gets that way after a few months not being polished.

So today I found a piece if something, a cup of some kind with two handles.  I put the silver polish on it, let it sit one hour and some of the shine came through.   The bottom of the cup came out to say sterling silver so I against all orders took an SOS pad to it  and cleaned up half of it.

Now I wonder if there is anything else to clean silver, never know when one will find or inherit something that could be worth a few bucks..

[zeitgeist]

Ok so I am a silver junkie,   I inherited a bunch of sterling silver from family.   Most of the stuff had been wrapped up in some kind of product to keep the air out.

I wander about the flee markets looking for the nasty stuff all black and looking useless as I know Silver gets that way after a few months not being polished.

So today I found a piece if something, a cup of some kind with two handles.  I put the silver polish on it, let it sit one hour and some of the shine came through.   The bottom of the cup came out to say sterling silver so I against all orders took an SOS pad to it  and cleaned up half of it.

Now I wonder if there is anything else to clean silver, never know when one will find or inherit something that could be worth a few bucks..

whoa girl, drop the SOS pad and slowly back away.  I may not know much about cleaning silver but I know SOS is not the answer.  The Google could be your friend here, take a look at this:

http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Silver

I am waiting for kick off so you are on your own for now.

[Dori]

Now I wonder if there is anything else to clean silver, never know when one will find or inherit something that could be worth a few bucks..

There are liquid products where all you have to do is dip the item into it. 

Have you tried the aluminum foil, baking soda and boiling water yet?  If that doesn't take it all off, it would probably make the polishing part a lot easier.

Line a glass bowl with foil, shiny side up, put about a half cup of soda in that, the item on top of the soda and cover with boiling water.  Do this outside, as it smells like rotten eggs.


But I wouldn't use anything like sos on it.   

[Undies]

I knew a family named Smith and their son's name was Silver.


(Don't use Comet or Ajax on silver either )

[DumbAss Tanker]

Jesus.  An SOS pad??? Do you wipe your ass with corncobs or a Surform tool?!?

 

Most metal polishes will strip lacquer and plating, it's only good to use them on solid alloys like fine silver (.999) or Sterling (.925).  There are all kinds out there, they nearly all work OK...as long as it really is solid instead of plated.

[mrclose]

Wrights Silver Cream

You want to clean and polish .. NOT destroy patina!

I have silver and "Real" Sheffield silver that is almost 200 years old and I use Only Wright's!

DO NOT use dips .. (OR SOS )

[vesta111]

Thank you for the advise, kind of late now but I did use SOS and do everything wrong.

Frankly I have no idea why anyone in their right mind would want anything of this high care in the first place.

I have Towel from my mom that she polished and stored in those air tight vacuum bags that have not tarnished in 40 years.------A shame to have it as I am afraid to use it.   I priced replacement items on line and now know where the expression to count ones spoons from.

Then there is the flat ware she gave me belonging to her grand mother.  Everything is there including the tea pot and butter dish and a couple salt cellars, no salt shakers back then.

Just what the heck are we to do in to days time with hand downs from family, cannot sell it , guilt, darn, my grandmother was not born when her mother owned something or other.   

I am trying to talk myself into selling all this stuff, or donate, or lend it to some to a museum, tax right off  perhaps.

Can't give it to my kids, my boys would use the plates for skeet shooting.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Unlike rust, tarnish doesn't corrode silver, it's a 'Tight' oxidation on the surface that prevents any deeper penetration, a feature of the precious metals as well as copper, nickel (Which is what makes stainless steel stainless), aluminum, and many others.  It just makes it less shiny over time.