Posts: 1792
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 12-30-2000 07:27 PM            

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1) Recently the waterwell dried up so we had a new one dug; the new water source has a LOT of iron in it (so much so that it stains white porcelain surfaces)--when I use the water to rinse/clean silver, will the iron damage or stain the silver in any way?

2) I have a couple little antique sterling pepper casters, and the insides are both encrusted with decades-old pepper. Should I attempt to remove this, or is the pepper innocuous enough to leave alone?

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Posts: 21
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 01-03-2001 10:46 PM            

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quote:

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Originally posted by Paul Lemieux:
1) Recently the waterwell dried up so we had a new one dug; the new water source has a LOT of iron in it (so much so that it stains white porcelain surfaces)--when I use the water to rinse/clean silver, will the iron damage or stain the silver in any way?

2) I have a couple little antique sterling pepper casters, and the insides are both encrusted with decades-old pepper. Should I attempt to remove this, or is the pepper innocuous enough to leave alone?

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Paul,

I can share with you my experience with the matter of encrusted pepper. Recently, I came across an number of forgotten sets of salt and pepper shakers that had been my mother's and had been boxed up for years with the salt and pepper still inside. Now I was aware of the problems that salt could cause, but those with salt were easy to put in order. The encrusted pepper proved to be another matter. I ultimately was able to clean them by saking them in hot, hot soapy water and removing the encrusted pepper a little at a time with a Q-tip (this may not be the recommended method, but it worked). The sterling shaker and the sterling tops to the crystal sets cleaned up fine with no damage, it just took quite awhile. But, I had a set with plated tops and, quite frankly, they did not clean up well. After I got the pepper off I found that I was left with rough greenish-brown areas. I think I would have been better off leaving the pepper on the plated item. Now this is anecdotal and I would love to hear how others have handled the encrusted pepper issue. Sorry, for the double post...

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