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Cleaning sterling vs. silverplate?

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Author	Topic: Cleaning sterling vs. silverplate?
Pumpkin Posts: 3 Registered: Jul 2004	posted 07-22-2004 07:09 PM Hi all, Does silverplate tarnish? I have a bowl that tarnished but it doesn't have any markings on it. I used tarn-x on it and it worked but now i wonder if i took some of the silver off. Is it ok to tarn-x sterling every time is starts turning? My aunt passed down some sterling to me which she kept in plastic. That stopped it from turning, but I would like to display this but i don't want to destroy it. I was looking at all the posted messages and this is a great site. Thanks in advance for all your help. Pumpkin... IP: Logged
nihontochicken Posts: 289 Registered: May 2003	posted 07-23-2004 01:22 AM Okay, well, I was thinking of posting a separate personal inquiry, but instead may as well piggyback on this one. I have read that Tarn-X and similar products are pooh-poohed by silver Brahmins. But, any and all silver polishes are a "stock removal" (i.e., grind it off, more or less) proposition. Got black (silver sulphide)? Sand it!!! OTOH, Tarn-X appears to be a reducing agent, i.e., reduces silver sulfide to silver metal, without surface removal. So, what is the meaningful difference between "dip" and "strip", and why do the apparent silver cognizenti reject the "dip"??? Just wondering ... IP: Logged
Scott Martin Forum Master Posts: 11520 Registered: Apr 93	posted 07-23-2004 07:05 AM See a 2001 post: Silver Care (Polishing/Cleaning) IP: Logged
Thompson9999 Posts: 10 Registered: Jul 2004	posted 07-23-2004 07:06 AM Over here we use Silvo which gives a lovely shine but maybe damages. Not sure IP: Logged
Scott Martin Forum Master Posts: 11520 Registered: Apr 93	posted 07-23-2004 08:33 AM These posts might also be of interest: Displaying SS Christmas Ornaments Best Silver Tarnish Protection ? Whiting Ivory serving piece care and maintenance IP: Logged
helpmeplease unregistered	posted 07-23-2004 12:21 PM Hi this is Pumpkin again, my computer at work will not let me sign in...... Thanks for the replies...I will get a silver polish and not use tarn-x (i thought this was a cleaner/polish).... You all have a good weekend Pumpkin! IP: Logged
nihontochicken Posts: 289 Registered: May 2003	posted 07-23-2004 09:57 PM Thanks, Scott. I read (or re-read) the links you provided. But none really addressed my question. Again, Tarn-X appears to be a reducing agent, i.e., it chemically reduces silver sulfide to base metallic silver. As such, it would appear to be less destructive than any kind of polish, polish being essentially a sanding agent. I'm still trying to make sense of what I perceive to be a prejudice against reducing agents in general and Tarn-X in particular. In my experience, after spending a half hour using good silver polish on a nearly black Georgian cream pitcher, and getting nowhere fast, I threw in the towel, and grabbed a Tarn-X swipe. It worked pretty slick. Not instantaneous, but a heckuva lot faster than the polish, and without removing the metal. Of course, I made sure all residue was completely washed off the piece when through. BTW, reducing agents are often employed in other similar situations. For steel rust, products such as Corroseal are employed, which reduce the flaky, non-protective red rust (Fe2O3) into hard and protective magnetite (Fe3O4). So what's the big prob with Tarn-X? IP: Logged
t-man-nc Posts: 327 Registered: Mar 2000	posted 07-23-2004 10:51 PM The problem with Tarn-x in my humble opinion is the bleached effect it seems to give to silver as though it had a dead surface. Even after polishing several time i cannot seem to regain the luster... Just my opinion... "Smaug" IP: Logged
nihontochicken Posts: 289 Registered: May 2003	posted 07-23-2004 11:27 PM Ah, yes, good point, Smaug! I noticed this myself. The problem is the following. When any metal corrodes, the corrosion products generally do not have the same density as the base metal. They usually have lower density, hence higher specific volume, so they expand and lift and crack. Using the Tarn-X, when the silver sulfide was completely reduced, there was a whitish cast left on the surface. I'm thinking this was due to the "spongy" nature of the reduced silver from the previous silver sulfide. But a little rubbing with a soft cloth seemed to take care of this. Possibly part of the silver "sponge" was rubbed off, the rest was "smeared" back into the object surface. All in all, it still seems less injurious than polishing. IP: Logged
dragonflywink Posts: 993 Registered: Dec 2002	posted 07-24-2004 11:51 AM Okay, true confession, I keep some silver dip in my stash of cleaning stuff. Over many years of collecting silver, have to admit that I've resorted to using Tarn-x type products. Have some pieces of recent (1970s-80s) silver plate that produce dark tarnish very quickly, and a quick swipe and rinse cleans them quickly and leaves a nice shine. As for sterling, used tarn-x when it first came out (years ago) and noticed a wide variance in the "cloudy" effect produced, wonder if there is a connection to the other metals used in the alloy? I have not used it on solid silver for many years (except for the occasional sterling neck chain), but have spent many hours polishing pieces dipped by other folks, some seem to come back nicely, but others are never really satisfactory. It may remove (or reduce, or convert) the tarnish, but I'm still wearing away the metal by using a polish to try and restore the lovely soft glow that makes me love silver. Cheryl ;o) IP: Logged

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