3224. To Protect Silver-Ware from Tarnishing

3224.    To Protect Silver-Ware from Tarnishing. The loss of silver which results from the impregnation of our atmosphere with sulphur compounds, especially where gas is burned, is very great. Silversmiths may thank one of their confraternity - Mr. Strolberger, of Munich - for a happy thought. He seems to have tried various plans to save his silver, if possible. He covered his goods with a clear white varnish, but found that it soon turned yellow in the window, and spoiled the look of his wares. Then he tried water-glass (solution of silicate of potash), but this did not answer. He tried some other solutions, to no purpose; but at last he hit upon the expedient of coating his goods over with a thin coating of collodion, which he found to answer perfectly. No more loss of silver, and no longer incessant labor in keeping it clean. The plan he adopts is this: He first warms the articles to be coated, and then paints them over carefully with a thinnish collodion diluted with alcohol, using a wide soft brush for the purpose. Generally, he says, it is not advisable to do them over more than once. Silver goods, he tells us, protected in this way, have been exposed in his window more than a year, and are as bright as ever, while others unprotected have become perfectly black in a few months.

3225. To Prevent Coins and Small Ornaments from Tarnishing

3225.    To Prevent Coins and Small Ornaments from Tarnishing. All ornaments, whether gold or silver, can be kept from tarnishing if they are carefully covered from the air in box-wood sawdust, which will also dry them after being washed. The tarnish on silver-ware is most often due to sulphur. A gentleman who wears a silver watch finds that it is tarnished from the sulphur fumes of the rubber ring which holds together his ferry tickets. Sulphur fumes enough get into the air to account for all ordinary cases of tarnishing.

3226. To Clean Silver

3226.    To Clean Silver. Immerse for half an hour the silver article into a solution made of 1 gallon water, 1 pound hyposulphite of soda, 8 ounces muriate of ammonia, 4 ounces liquid ammonia, and 4 ounces cyanide of potassium; but, as the latter substance is poisonous, it can be dispensed with if necessary. The article, being taken out of the solution, is washed, and rubbed with a wash leather.

3227. To Clean Silver Plate

3227.    To Clean Silver Plate. Fill a large saucepan with water; put into it 1 ounce carbonate of potash and 1/4 pound whiting. Now put in all the spoons, forks, and small plate, and boil them for 20 minutes; after which take the saucepan off the fire and allow the liquor to become cold; then take each piece out and polish with soft leather. A soft brush must be used to clean the embossed and engraved parts.

3228. Plate Boiling Powder

3228.     Plate Boiling Powder. Mix equal parts of cream of tartar, common salt, and alum. A little of this powder, added to the water in which silver-plate is boiled, gives to it a silvery whiteness.