Polishing Tips for Silver

[davewerden]

Many people have asked me how to polish silver instruments. You need to do two things. First you need to clean and polish the horn, and second you need to keep the tarnish from coming back very soon.

Silver is a relatively soft plating, so you should NOT use a standard metal polish. Use something that is made for fine silver finishes. I prefer Hagerty Silver Polish with Tarnish Preventative. The kind I use most often is a cream in a bottle. You put some on a soft cloth, polish an area of the horn, let it dry for a minute or so, then polish it off with a clean soft cloth. It leaves a protective coating that will help keep tarnish from forming.

For hard-to-get-at areas, Hagerty also makes a spray polish. It is easy to spray it between valves and on other tight spaces. Then you can thread a clean cloth between the valves to pull back and forth, which will polish it off.

Of course there are many Hagerty silver polish products on Amazon:
Hagerty Silver Polish

3M makes a polish for silver called Tarni-Shield, but it doesn't give as nice a shine as Hagerty in my opinion.

[davewerden]

Polishing Tips for Silver

(posted by Rick F.)

After using Tarni-Shield myself for quite some time on my YEP-641S, I've come to the same conclusion. I've switched to Hagerty's this past year. I use the polishing gloves on the main part of the horn, and the spray for hard-to-reach areas. Tarni-Shield requires a cold water rinsing to get the protective affect according to 3M folks. This takes more time and is messy.

[SteveMcGovern]

Polishing Tips for Silver

Is polishing a part of proper maintenance, or does it abrade the silver, eroding material for appearance's sake? I've never polished my Yamaha, but maybe I should?

[davewerden]

Polishing Tips for Silver

Maybe someone else can tell us technically/scientifically what happens when you polish. However, I believe it is a good idea if done properly.

If you use a polish with tarnish preventative you should not need to do it too often, so wear on the finish should not be a big factor. Between polishings you can probably use a damp cloth to clean it and another cloth to dry it.

There is a practical factor at work. If you leave it without polishing for a long time it will build up a very tough coating of tarnish. If you then need to make it look nice, it will take a lot of elbow grease, which I assume might be much harder on the finish than regular, gentle polishing.

I have never tried it, but there are little strips you can of silver, and they are supposed to "absorb" the tarnish that would otherwise attack you horn. They are made to be put into silverware cabinets, but I wonder if they would work if placed inside a horn case???

NOTE: this is all opinion! Anyone out there have some facts?

[RickF]

Polishing Tips for Silver

Dave Werden said,

I have never tried it, but there are little strips you can of silver, and they are supposed to "absorb" the tarnish that would otherwise attack you horn. They are made to be put into silverware cabinets, but I wonder if they would work if placed inside a horn case???

I've tried these. About 5 strips came with my first bottle of TarniShield from 3M. (I no longer use TarniShield as I prefer Haggerty's). These strips (look like carbon paper) are supposed to absorb sulfides and other pollutants in the air to prevent tarnish from occurring in an enclosed area or container. I taped one inside my case and changed the strip every few months. I wasn't convinced they actually worked. But after reading this article...

3M Anti-Tarnish Strips

...maybe I wasn't using enough strips.

[davewerden]

Polishing Tips for Silver

Hmmm. I notice that 3M emphasizes the importance of an air-tight container for these strips to work their best. Perhaps if we are opening and closing our cases regularly it would not work as well. However, I suppose I could try it on my baritone horn, which doesn't get out much!

Thanks for the link.

[kevin67]

Polishing Tips for Silver

If you can still find it, the cloth silverware is kept in is called "silver cloth". This cloth contains silver.

The idea is that the silver in the cloth will tarnish before the air gets to your horn. Just make a bag and stuff your horn in it when not in use.

[uieuph]

Polishing Tips for Silver

I have a Meinl Weston 451 with a silver plate. I have used Hagerty Silver Polish with success; however, on a more recent polish, my horn developed a black coating on one of the tuning slides afterwards and some dulling in other areas even though I polished the same way which is in the manner in which is recommended. Is there something that you may know that could cause this, and is there a way to get the black off as the polish itself won't budge it? Maybe the silver dip? Also, I've only used a silver polish three times over the three years I've had my horn.

[davewerden]

Polishing Tips for Silver

Originally posted by: uieuph

...my horn developed a black coating on one of the tuning slides afterwards and some dulling in other areas even though I polished the same way which is in the manner in which is recommended...

Are you talking about the part of the slide that is normally hidden?

[uieuph]

Polishing Tips for Silver

The part that has this is the third valve slide on the front or exposed side.

[davewerden]

Polishing Tips for Silver

I have found this sometimes when part of the silver seems to have a tendency to darken. Maybe it's because of an impurity in the silver in that place, or maybe it's due to something in your case that is touching the horn there. Check out the case first (including a gig bag if you use one). Any contact with leather can cause this, for example.

If that is not the trouble, then I would try the silver dip:
Hagerty Flatware 17-1/2oz. Silver Dip

You can let this sit on the area affected for a few minutes (read the directions and see what they suggest for stubborn spots). It is probably more gentle than rubbing with standard polish. Once it is clean, use the regular polish to protect it in the future.

Do this area carefully, and in progressive steps with the dip. If the cause is an impurity in the silver or an impurity in the brass underneath, it's possible the plating will be more fragile. Get the black off before you use the normal polish.

[Wingfield]

Polishing Tips for Silver

To polish horns, I generally use Wright's silver polish. It doesn't erode the lacquer, and leaves the thing sparkling. You can get little tubs of it at Wal-mart for relatively cheap. Just coat the horn, allow to stand for a 15 minutes or so, and then wipe it off with a clean and dampened towel. You can even rinse it off under running water. You don't need to use a very thick coating. The main thing is to make sure to rub the polish onto the horn. I can generally get a good 20 polishings out of one tub of Wrights.
I have also heard very good things about Windex wipes, but I've never used them. They may be good things to have handy for pre-performance touchups.

[kevin67]

Polishing Tips for Silver

Originally posted by: Wingfield

To polish horns, I generally use Wright's silver polish. It doesn't erode the lacquer, and leaves the thing sparkling.

I must disagree. Silver Polish contains an abrasive that will dull a laquor finish. Although I wouldn't put laquor on silver, but some people do.

Wright's is great for Silver that is unlaquored.

[euphm]

Polishing Tips for Silver

I used Wright's and it seemed to leave marks on my horn in some areas (silver plated). It's unnoticeable from far away but I can see it. Was it something I did wrong?

I applied some of the polish, not a lot to my horn and then I rinsed it off. (Maybe the rinsing part?)

-Is laquor meaning the shiny silver? Kevin posted that Wright's would dull, and I'm thinking thats what happened to my horn.

[davewerden]

Polishing Tips for Silver

Originally posted by: euphm
I used Wright's and it seemed to leave marks on my horn in some areas (silver plated). ...

Without seeing it I can't be sure, but I suspect the Wright's did not clean the horn fully. Handprints and the tarnish that follows can be tough to clean off. It depends partly on your body chemistry, how long between polishings, etc. I have never found a polish that would really clean an instrument well without some rubbing, both during application and during final polishing.

I've heard good things about Wright's but have not tried it yet. I suggest you find some of the Haggerty's mentioned above and try it. Rub it in well as you apply it, let it dry a bit, then polish it off.