safe way to strip silver?

donalson · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 6:38 am Post subject:

does anyone have a good SAFE way of stripping silver from a horn? the horn has a bit of raw brass spots on the slides so i figure i may as well make all the slides raw

thanks
mark

AverageJoe · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 6:46 am Post subject:

Stripping silver is not an easy thing to do on your own. The silver is molecularly bonded to the brass. There is an electro-chemical process that can accomplish this, but I don't know of any way to do it yourself without significant $$ investment in equipment and chemicals. I would contact Anderson Plating at

http://www.andersonsilverplating.com

See what they tell you...

Paul Poovey

bgwbold · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 6:48 am Post subject:

As far as I know, the only way to do it without abrasives is to take it to a plater and have it electrostatically "unplated" which is the reverse process to plating.

Mike

AverageJoe · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 6:55 am Post subject:

I guess I did neglect to mention that you can do it yourself with 0000 grade steel wool, but you start messing with the thickness of the brass, and that is not a good idea!

Paul Poovey

Jon Arnold · Heavyweight Member Joined: 07 Jan 2002 Posts: 2026

I want to do the same thing to an old Strad. I have researched this and it seems to me it would be best to have a shop do it. It can be stripped chemically with a combination of sulfuric and muriac acid. Which can be dangerous. I don't think that would be safe to do at home and you also have to dispose of the chemicals afterward. The few places I have contacted want $300 to strip a silver horn. I think it is too much money to invest in a horn I don't play often. I wish I could do it myself. If anyone knows someone who would do it cheap, let me know.

nieuwguyski · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 12:17 pm Post subject:

Applying sulphur to the slides should thoroughly tarnish the silver plate. It seems like repeated applications of sulphur followed by Tarn-X would remove silver plate. Where to find sulphur? Well, you could boil up a bunch of eggs and harvest the yolks, then mash the yolks up into a paste to apply to the silver.

Not that I've ever done anything remotely like this -- I'm just theorizing out loud.
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samlg · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 12:38 pm Post subject:

there must be a way of doing it, because i have an old imperial flugel, and someone has stripped the end of the slides. its not a pro job because there are traces of silver stll left.

have fun, sam

nacog · Veteran Member Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 232

in the cataloge of ferree's (a seller of instrument repair tools) they list a solution to strip silver plate off. It is 4 oz of salt peter (potassium nitrate) to every gallon of Suphuric acid.
They add a note of caution not to leave the instrument in too long or it will be pitted.
I personally don't know where one would find these chemicals but Ferree's is a very respected outfit and they say it works.

Bruce Lee · Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2004 4:33 pm Post subject:

By all means, if you want a plated trumpet stripped, please send it, or take it to a reputable company that is licensed by the EPA to do that kind of work. The chemicals used in plating are extremely harmful to the environment.

Bruce
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Druyff · Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2004 4:57 am Post subject:

Or you can have the bad spots replated. You can even do that yourself with a silverplate kit. Those cost about $30 and are normally used to replate teaspoons etc.

donalson · Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2004 6:54 am Post subject:

where can i find the replate kits?

thanks
mark

jhaysom · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 8:30 am Post subject:

replating kits:

http://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=2001&forum=9
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