Silverware Deep Cleaning

[NigelP]

Some years ago I bought a Elkhart 300 Series Curved Soprano sax in Frosted Silver finish and a few years later I noticed some major discoloration spreading over much of the body. The "well-known" supplier didn't seem too interested in resolving the matter since it was well outside its warranty period, so I just ignored it....... until yesterday.

The discoloration gradually has spread to most of the bodywork (the keywork is "gold-plated").

After a bit of serious scrubbing using Goddards Silver polish and a green abrasive pad (yes horrifying thought but the finish is Frosted and therefore rough by design) and also a small toothbrush, I found that some areas could be significantly improved. I decided to do a full keywork strip down so that I could work on the body better.

However I've come to the conclusion that I might spend the next year scrubbing and not achieving the desired result!

I was wondering whether there might be a company that could do a full chemical dip-clean in a bath of something dodgy that might remove the silver "corrosion" ...... any ideas out there?

At the moment I'm just brushing it with the silver cleaner every now and again to see whether it might work over a period of time. Also the question is whether the problem will simply re-appear in the future and I'm just wasting my time.

I'm a bit miffed really because it is (or was) a nice-looking instrument although it doesn't get used a great deal (I principally play alto in the jazz workshop).

 

[DavidUK]

Try Walsh's silver plating solution. See:

Do I dare attempt a tear down and cleaning of a silver plated sax? - Page 3 - Cafesax

Ok, so I was left a beautiful silver plated York alto. It's gotten horribly tarnished and I'd like to put it back to its original brilliance. It's currently well regulated and plays exceptionally well. I'm well versed in the tear down of and reassembly of clarinets, but this is a completely...

cafesaxophone.com

 

[NigelP]

Well things have moved on a bit! I've been studiously rubbing the bodywork down with green pad and silver dip and it actually looks as if what I'm removing is not silver oxidation but actually lacquer! I had been doing a bit of brushing down, leaving it and then re-brushing and then I washed it all in hot water to start the process again when I noticed I could chip off "something" with my thumbnail. When I examined the debris it was clearly flakes of clear lacquer.

So maybe the question now is what do I dissolve the lacquer in, or do I just cave in and leave it as-is? It's certainly looking nicer than when I started but presumably I am now doomed to be forever cleaning the accessible silver (like my silver clarinet and my silver flute which are both un-lacquered).

It would appear that either the lacquer itself has deteriorated, or that some silver oxidation has ocurred underneath the lacquer due to a poor manufacturing process.

I tried some thinners and some IPA but neither help to remove the lacquer.

 

[Dr G]

Lacquer over silver plate - especially matte - is doomed by diffusion. No lacquer is impervious to oxygen; it’s just a matter of time.

 

[TobyB]

How old is the instrument?

The vintage lacquers aren't too hard to remove, but
by the 80's, they weren't really lacquer any more.
You might try something like a citrus stripper
(I'm forgetting the chemical name) on a small patch
to see if it can soften the finish.
Or just a lot more- very hot- water.

I've got a couple of older silver instruments, and they're
not coated with anything. They aren't particularly prone
to tarnish, but a quick contact spot wipe- down with a silver cloth
before putting them away really helps.

t

 

[DavidUK]

If it's lacquered you're knackered.

 

[JayeNM]

You are gonna have to use a chemical lacquer stripper.

It's really stupid for any company to lacq over plating. They do it for eye candy so it looks fab when brand new...they know damn well that it will age badly and be a pain in the butt to their owners eventually...

This would require you repad the keys or remove the pads, set them aside, marked, and then have them reinstalled...because no way can you chem-strip keys with the pads on.

IF its the body which primarily irks you,then leave the pads and the keys as is.

Brush-on chem stripper, follow directions, might need 2 or 3 applications THEN need to be abraded off using the softest bristle toothbrush available.

With that done, soap wash and rinse the the body, the use a silver dip solution lie Tarn X or something. Over here Wrights Silver Cream is another good one but I dunno what brands you have there.

 

[PigSquealer]

Before you chemically destroy this unit. Measure all the springs so you know what sizes to order.

 

[turf3]

If you'll use acetone it won't harm the springs and you can do the work with springs in place. You don't have to get every single molecule of lacquer off every single nook and cranny, you just need to get the vast majority off. Some places down in the keywork don't matter. If you use water somewhere in the process, make sure to give each spring a dot of oil where it goes into the post, and take an oily rag and wipe down each spring to give it a faint coating of oil (unless they're stainless steel springs in which case disregard.)

Then, polish it up, then let it patina normally. Personally I think a silver plated horn with a nice grey patina down in the keywork and the crevices, and silver where you touch it all the time, looks a lot better than the brand-new-all-perfect look, anyway. Look for example at pictures of fine old Louis Lot flutes, which are generally allowed to take on this kind of patina. This is why silver plate is so much more appealing than nickel, in my opinion. Silver develops a "depth" of appearance by the different degrees to which different areas get dark. Like your actual silverware (if you have any). Down in the crevices of the pattern it gets dark, on the top it's shiny, so the pattern is made more distinct and interesting by these contrasts. Wouldn't look nearly as nice all done in rhodium and every part of every surface looking identical.

My old Buescher soprano is lacquered over silver plate but I'm just ignoring its somewhat piebald appearance for now; like I've said before it's just kind of the history of the instrument. It's not worth the trouble to erase it.