WarmGlass.com

does anyone know to get sterling silever shiney to use as a bail

do you polish on a wheel
do you dip and if so in what ??
do you tumble polish ?
or ??????
thanks in advance Steve or email me at theglassman2@mchsi.com

Well, I prefer textured silver as I think it loses some of its character and beauty when it's too polished. So I just use Zam and either a felt or muslin wheel on my Fordam.

Steve,

It depends on what is preventing the silver from being shiny.

If the silver is tarnished from exposure to the air, you can polish it with a jewelers' polishing cloth or any of the chemical silver cleaners. The cheapest and quickest are the ones you buy at a store like Bed, Bath & Beyond for cleaning silverware. Dip the silver in for 15-20 seconds, rinse in clear water, dry and you're done.

You'll have to use a wheel and polishing compound if the lack of shine is caused by oxidation from extreme heat from putting sterling in a kiln or from soldering. In these cases, the small amount of copper in the sterling alloy has separated from the silver and is causing the gray/black film. The only way to get a shine is to remove the molecules that have separated.

If you are talking about PMC, I can't help you because I've never worked with it.

Hope this helps.

Alecia Helton

If the silver is smooth and polished, just dull, a silver polish like Simichrome of Flitz and a piece of cloth works great.

Beware! I wouln't use the so called "instant" liquid sterling silver cleaners. Over time - they will form an yellowish coating which is rather difficult to remove. Remember the old saying- "If it's too good to be true-
it usually is"

Steve

. . . Remember the old saying- "If it's too good to be true- it usually is"

Steve


Too true Steve. By the way, I wouldn't waste much of your time posting on that other board. There has been a huge error posted there for days, and none of the experts that post there have caught it. Brock

Brock: This A.M. was only the second or third time I've been to that site.

There was a question on lamination that gave rise to mine. I got some

good responses but for a respectable craft or hobby- how did some of the

langauge get into such a forum?

Steve

If it really scratched I file & sand etc, after that I tumble polish till shiny.

If the silver is scratched, you will have to buff with a rouge and a dremel or foredom. If it is just oxidized, I use Never Dull. You can get it at a hardware store. It is a cotton wadding with a polish solution already in it. And no matter what you do, don't forget to wash with soap and water after to get any residue off. This is what I do with my sterling jewelry.

If you make a lot of jewelry, the investment in a jeweler's buffing machine might be worth your while. It's still very messy, but faster/ easier than buffing with a flexshaft tool.

You can use one kind of buffing compound (tripoli, bobbing compound, Zam, etc.) to remove scratches and another (jeweler's rouge) to get a high shine. They must be applied on different buffs to avoid contamination.

A used buffing machine can be a great investment. I bought mine used about 7 years ago for about $225 and it's still running great! Before trying to use one, though, I'd strongly suggest you get some professional instruction in use and maintenance. They can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Always wear a face shield when buffing. If you have long hair, always pull it back or wear it up to keep it from getting caught in the machine. Buffing machines like mine require oiling to keep them running.

Some more warnings about buffing machines....Don't try to buff loose lengths of wire or chains on a buffing machine. They can get caught, start spinning and end up cutting your face or hands. Even after 11 years of using a buffing machine on a regular basis, I managed to cut my finger on a piece of sheet silver the other day because I wasn't paying close enough attention to what I was doing. Ouch!

Cleaning your freshly buffed jewelry is faster with a professional quality ultrasonic cleaning machine than by using the standard soap, water and small brush. The downside of an ultrasonic machine is that after about 2 cleanings, silver starts getting dull. For me, this means using jeweler's rouge to rebuff my inventory a couple of times a year to get it high shine again.

A small ultrasonic machine can be had for about $200, I think. They remove the tarnish caused by people touching your jewelry. The natural oils in skin tarnishes sterling jewelry fairly quickly, not to mention some of the food goop that people attending shows have on their fingers. LOL.

Good luck!

Geri

Geri Comstock wrote: The natural oils in skin tarnishes sterling jewelry fairly quickly, not to mention some of the food goop that people attending shows have on their fingers. LOL.

Good luck!

Geri

Honey sticks should not be allowed within 2500 feet of a booth.