Re: Silverplater - any experience?


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Posted by Henry on December 09, 2003 at 10:00:00:

In Reply to: Silverplater - any experience? posted by Kenneth Sloan on December 08, 2003 at 23:15:54:

J C Whitney, that paragon of parts suppliers, offered (and presumably still does) a silver plating kit. It consists of a small bottle of solution and a battery powered brush with embedded anode and a clip on a wire to attach to the object to be plated. You clip it on, dip the tip in the solution and brush away. Wipe, rub, dip, brush some more. Relatively quick, pretty painless, provides genuine metal plating with pretty good durability (feel free to apply as many coats as you wish; the durability is tied to thickness which is in turn directly related to the number of coats. It's not exactly analogous to coats of paint in the way it goes on or builds up of course but the practical effect is much the same.) I've used it on old cornets, trumpets, and a baritone sax. While I suppose you could, in theory, silverplate the Bismarck, the more practical upper limit for area to be covered is probably no larger than say 1 to 2 inches by three to six inches. Your patience is the limiter. As the surface gets larger the effort required for a quality result seems to rise arithmetically. There are a number of similar kits out there on the web; generally for 25 to 75 bucks. The overall effect is very much better than the "rub a real silverplate finish on" products- though those have their uses as well. The plate will not hide any scratches whatsoever; the surface you have in brass prior to application will be identical to the surface you see in silver afterwards. You'll wind up with bright silver by the by; I've no idea how to "frost" it.
Henry


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