Silver Care and Repair: What to Use and Where to Go

Common Repairs: What can be Done?

The Lid, Foot, or Spout broke off of my item.  Can this be repaired?

The quick and easy answer is YES.  However, repairing a silver plated item is a little more involved than most assume.  Soldering involves exposing the repair area to high amounts of heat in order to get the solder to “flow”  Exposing a plated area to these types of heats will result in one of two things, the silver plating bubbling up and peeling near the repair area, or in the case of silver plated pewter, the base metal and silver plate will heat at different rates, and could potentially “wrinkle” the silver plating.  Before anything can be soldered, the area must be stripped of silverplating.  After the repair has been made, the item must be replated to cover the repair area.

There are black spots, or green crusty looking areas on my item.  What’s happening?

These areas a showing signs of Chemical Corrosion.  Black spotting is generally a result of bleach based damaged, green is a sign of salt corrosion.  Both of these processes are technically eating into the surface of the metal, and will only continue to worsen unless addressed by a professional restoration shop such as Zapffe Silversmiths in Seattle

The blades of my dinner knives have separated from the handles, or the blades appear to be rusting.  Can anything be done?

Both problems can be addressed.  Traditionally, knife blades were set inside their handles by either plaster of paris, or a tar based material called chasersmith.  Plaster will dissolve in water, and the tar will loosen and melt when exposed to high heat, resulting in loose handles.  A professional shop can re-set the blades into the handles using modern materials that will not loosen again.  Knife blades that are rusting are made out of steel as opposed to stainless steel.  They can either be replaced by stainless blades, or the original blades can be silver plated to prevent rusting

Okay, so It’s all shined up and beautiful, but after the time and money, I never want to have to clean it again.  What can I do to prevent the silver from tarnishing, or getting damaged again?

Congrats!  The elbow grease paid off!  Now you need tips on how to keep it looking good for as long as possible.  the first thing you need to consider is if you want it out on display, or if you’ll simply store it in the attic until you give it to your kids.
If you plan on displaying it in a glass enclosed hutch or curio cabinet, you can use Hagerty silver protection strips, or Camphor gum blocks to help absorb sulfur in the environment, which will slow the oxidation process on the silver.  If the item won’t be stored in an enclosed space, try to keep it out of direct sunlight, and use Hagerty silver polishing gloves to touch up your polish job.
If you plan on throwing them in a box, and not taking them out for a while, the best solution is wrapping them up in an acid free tissue paper, then placing them inside inside a bag made of pacific silver cloth.  This cloth is a chemically treated felt that inhibits the silver oxidation process.  For flatware items, chests, cases and rolls are available in this fabric, keeping your silverware tarnish free for years

Silver Care:The FAQ'S

Okay, so I have this teapot that is completely black…How do I get it to look Silver again?

Over time, silver will react with different chemicals in the air or in the food it is being used to serve, such as sulphur.  This creates a layer of silver oxide which results in that gastly blackish film so many despise.  The solution is a good old bottle of high quality silver polish.  Now, when I say high quality, I don’t mean the crap you can buy at the Super Market.  This stuff is filled with pumice, which, in the end, will clean it to a degree, but will also remove much more silverplating that is necessary.  My suggestions for polish are Hagerty brand polishes and Cape Cod polishing cloths, both of which can be purchased online at silvergiftstore.com.  These polishes are gentle enough for very delicate items, and are extremely effective in cleaning.  Costs for a decent silver polish can range anywhere from $8 to $16, and considering the value of the item you’re working on, it’s well worth it.

Okay, so I don’t really want to spend 6 hours polishing silver.  Isn’t there a way to just “dip” it in cleaner?

There
are several different products and processes out there that claim
instant results.  There’s also the old foil and baking soda
suggestion.  What I would urge people to realize is that there is an
awful lot of operator error involved in these types of solutions.  If a
piece is left in a silver dip a few seconds too long, some serious
discoloration can occur, causing the items to need replating or
refinishing.  These types of cleaners will also result in a very flat,
ashen tone to the silver, which will never really do it justice in the
long run.

Okay, so I bought the
fancy polish, worked on it all afternoon, and it shined up in some
places, but other areas are still black, or I exposed reddish, greenish
or goldish tones in some areas.  Now what?

Silver
plating quickly rose to popularity after it’s discovery in the 1860’s,
making it wildly popular in the Victorian Era and after.  Most
Victorian pieces that are found today are silverplate, and most of them
need replating. The black, dark grey, brass, or copper colors you’re
seeing are the items base metal.  Silver Manufacturers utilized less
expensive metals to make many common household items, and then plated
them with silver, thus allowing us regular folk to be able to afford
it.  No amount of cleaning can correct this discoloration, the item
needs to be replated.  Now, the common misconception with all plating
is that a person simply “dips” the spoon, teapot or whatever into
liquid silver, and you simply pull it out and viola! it looks brand
new.  SO not the case!  Silver plating is a very delicate process with
a ton of Chemistry involved.  Large bars of pure silver are hanging in
a tank of Potassium Cyanide.  Through the science of electricity,
silver ions are pulled off of the silver bars, and are attracted to
your item.  The silver will bond with the surface of the items base
metal.  Depending on the size of your item, and how thick you would
like the plate to be, the time an item spends in the tank can range
from 15 minutes to 40 minutes.  An item must be professionally cleaned
and metal finished before a proper plating job can be done.