{"id":2834,"date":"2016-12-07T14:34:07","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T19:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/?p=2834"},"modified":"2016-12-07T14:35:12","modified_gmt":"2016-12-07T19:35:12","slug":"clean-protect-and-store-your-silver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/?p=2834","title":{"rendered":"Clean, Protect and Store Your Silver"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><span style=\"color: #a52a2a;\">How to Recognize Silver<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><strong><em>Sterling silver<\/em><\/strong> is 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. In the U.S.A. sterling silver will be stamped \u201csterling.\u201d Mexican silver is stamped 92.5. English sterling is stamped with a lion facing to the left.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Silver plate<\/em><\/strong> consists of a base metal (often copper) that has been electrolytically coated with silver. In the U.S.A. it will be stamped plate. In England it will be stamped with a lion facing to the right.<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #a52a2a;\">Handling and Storing Silver<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>This is the best way to preserve your silver and if done faithfully will require little or no polishing for long periods of time:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Use cotton or plastic gloves.<\/li>\n<li>Wash your silver in mild non-lemon-scented phosphate-free detergent as soon as you are finished using it.<\/li>\n<li>Dry thoroughly with a soft cotton towel (for intricate detail use a cotton Q-tip to get into cracks and crevices).<\/li>\n<li>Store wrapped in acid-free tissue and in a sealed polyethylene bag (e.g., Ziploc) or in a Pacific Silvercloth bag (don\u2019t get the Pacific cloth wet as it will remove the tarnish deterrent properties).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #a52a2a;\">Things that can Damage Silver and Cause Tarnish<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>All sulfur-containing compounds:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Air pollutants from fossil fuels<\/li>\n<li>Textiles containing wool, felt and velvet<\/li>\n<li>Rubber products, such as foam rubber, carpet padding and rubber bands<\/li>\n<li>Wood (untreated), paper and cardboard<\/li>\n<li>Foods such as olive oil, vinegar, olives, pickled products, eggs and egg products<\/li>\n<li>Oils and salts from your hands<\/li>\n<li>Wine and fruit juice (gold-lined chalices combat corrosion)<\/li>\n<li>Salt is very corrosive<\/li>\n<li>Humidity hastens tarnish<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #a52a2a;\">To Remove Tarnish<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>First, thoroughly wash and dry your silver as noted.<\/p>\n<p>For lightly tarnished silver buy a good nonabrasive polish such as Blitz (found at Amazon.com) or WOW (a product from Almy that works great). To test a polish for abrasiveness, rub it between your fingers. It should feel like talcum powder. If it feels gritty at all do not use it.<\/p>\n<p>Heavy tarnish may be removed with Tarnex, but it is not recommended as it may leave a yellow cast on the silver, dulling it over time. It also has no tarnish prevention properties and may pit.<\/p>\n<p>Polish with an old terry cloth towel and a wet Q-tip, a soft wet tampico or horsehair brush to remove the polish from intricate detail. Buff with a soft cotton cloth.<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #a52a2a;\">A Few Don\u2019ts<\/span><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Don\u2019t put your silver in the dishwasher \u2014 the heat and harsh detergent may cause damage.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t wrap silver in saran wrap or plastic cleaning bags. Both will stick and cause permanent yellowing.<\/li>\n<li>Never use rubber bands on silver. They will cause permanent damage.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t wrap in newspaper as it will leave print on the silver and ultimately tarnish.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t use silver polish that has dried out as it will be too concentrated with abrasives.<\/li>\n<li>Do not store weighted hollowware in hot attics, or place in ovens or dishwashers as these will cause damage.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t polish gold, which does not tarnish. Polish will eventually rub the gold down to the base metal.<\/li>\n<li>To protect lacquered brass always handle with gloves. Make sure an alcohol-free hand sanitizer is used by those touching the brass during a service. If there is some pitting of the lacquer, lightly rub a wooden match in the pit to get rid of it. Olive oil may be used to clean and bring out the luster.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #a52a2a;\">A good silver website<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.silversmithing.com\/care.htm\">Society of American Silversmiths<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you do it right, and faithfully, your silver will require little or no polishing for long periods of time [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2837,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[112,95,102,58,59,101],"class_list":["post-2834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-altar-appointments","category-how-to","tag-chalice","tag-cleaning","tag-metalwork","tag-polish","tag-preservation","tag-vessels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2834"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2838,"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2834\/revisions\/2838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}