Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

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bort
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by bort »

I haven't done it myself, but I always figured one of those polish rags (the kind that trumpet players seem to always have) would do a good enough job to remove smudges and fingerprints from day-to-day use.

I keep meaning to buy one, but then I realize that I can't even do this much effort for the opportunity to do a halfass job. Beyond low priority. :)
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by bisontuba »

Hagerty Silversmiths Polish Spray, 8 Oz....spray it on, let it sit, rub away the tarnish, use a garden hose to clean off, and dry...
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by smitwill1 »

If required by your employer, band director, or commanding officer, then by any means necessary including the polishing cloths mentioned by bort—this includes “NeverDull” (which is very aggressive and in my experience results in silver you need to polish constantly in order to maintain the finish).

Presumably, the requester has the means to purchase a new horn for you when you’ve removed the silver plate? If it’s your own horn—embrace the “lived in” or “played hard” look of the patina and, as bloke says stick with soap and water; you’ll retain the finish longer that way. If you feel that you must have a shiny silver horn, there’s really no substitute for a decent polish with tarnish inhibiting compounds (I’ve used Wright’s brand in the past). It still requires periodic (quarterly or so) polishing, but less so than “NeverDull” and it’s not as abrasive as other metal polishes that I’ve used. Just remember that he silver plate is probably only a few atoms (well, maybe a few hundred...but not a lot) thick and that silver sulfide (the likely cause of the patina) is a “passivating layer” that will inhibit further oxidation. If you insist on stripping it off periodically, your silver plate will be a temporary finish.
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by Matt Walters »

WINDEX. If you want to wipe down the silver plated horn between polishing, Windex with decent paper towel or micro fiber cloth gets rid of finger prints and the very light brownish (earliest stage of tarnish) film on silver plated horns. This method also cuts down on the mess that what will rub off on your clothes.
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by WC8KCY »

I've had great success with 3M TarniShield silver polish, with rare touch-up cleanings using a Selmer Silver polishing cloth. My Holton tuba hasn't needed a full polish job in over 8 years.

I always, always keep it in its bag, zipped up tight, when not in use.

My Yamaha euph is also silver plated, and has never needed a full polish in the 22 years I've owned it. The inside of the bell will discolour in the area that rests by the gap in the case where it opens up; the Selmer cloth takes care of that in a jiffy. Otherwise, as Matt suggested, a spritz of Windex or SprayWay glass cleaner takes care of routine smudges.
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by ronr »

A friend of mine made a bag out of jeweler’s cloth that he’d store his horn in before putting in the gig bag.
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by royjohn »

The last time this came up I posted results from the survey of polishes by Jeff Herman, America's premier silver restorer, but most people poo-poohed his findings and reported they used this or that polish that he said was rather abrasive, and it always worked great (so far, ha-ha) so I'm not going down that road again. Yes, soap and water and a rag with nothing on it is a good start, and you can use a polish if needed. Some polishes have a protective agent that coats the silver (a wax?) and retards future tarnish, so you might want to use one of those. If you Google Jeff Herman, you can get to his website and see his recommendations, and, yes, he does sell a polish, but it doesn't contain any protectants and he's very fair about recommending another polish which is also a very mild abrasive if you want an included protectant. Amount of tarnish depends on the atmosphere...I would be tempted to tolerate some in preference to polishing a lot. But a well polished silver horn does look great... :D :D :D
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by bbocaner »

Windex is a great suggestion! I saw some the Baltimore Brass guys doing this on exhibit instruments a few years ago and it works amazing on fingerprints and water spots and that other sort of gunk. If the instrument has started to tarnish, then it's time for silver polish, but just to clean off the surface, windex or glass plus or similar works great. I use it with a microfiber towel, but be very careful with microfiber towels -- if they ever fall on the floor they will pick up all sorts of dirt and this dirt will scratch the instruments if you use them again. It's virtually impossible to get this dirt out of the towels once it's in there, so I pretty much treat them as disposable.
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by MikeW »

Matt Walters wrote:WINDEX. If you want to wipe down the silver plated horn between polishing, Windex with decent paper towel or micro fiber cloth gets rid of finger prints and the very light brownish (earliest stage of tarnish) film on silver plated horns. This method also cuts down on the mess that what will rub off on your clothes.
Which Windex? the ones without Ammonia may be safe, but won't the ones containing Ammonia cause red rot?
Unless the silver plate keeps the Ammonia away from the brass?

This from a discussion of cleaning boat windows--

What Windex® products are ammonia-free?
The following products do not contain ammonia. They can be used in cases where ammonia is not recommended for use on surface.

I also found a reminder on a Windex FAQ that Ammonia will etch natural stone, so keep it off Marble and Granite.

Windex® Crystal Rain™,
Windex® Multi-Surface with Glade® Clear Springs™
Windex® Multi-Surface Antibacterial
Windex® Multi-Surface Vinegar
Windex® Outdoor Multi-Surface Concentrated Cleaner
Windex™ Outdoor All-in-One Glass Cleaning Tool
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by MrBasseyPants »

MikeW wrote: Which Windex? the ones without Ammonia may be safe, but won't the ones containing Ammonia cause red rot?
Unless the silver plate keeps the Ammonia away from the brass?

This from a discussion of cleaning boat windows--

What Windex® products are ammonia-free?
The following products do not contain ammonia. They can be used in cases where ammonia is not recommended for use on surface.

I also found a reminder on a Windex FAQ that Ammonia will etch natural stone, so keep it off Marble and Granite.

Windex® Crystal Rain™,
Windex® Multi-Surface with Glade® Clear Springs™
Windex® Multi-Surface Antibacterial
Windex® Multi-Surface Vinegar
Windex® Outdoor Multi-Surface Concentrated Cleaner
Windex™ Outdoor All-in-One Glass Cleaning Tool
Yeah that's what I have read around here too.... ....and then some people say to use lemon pledge.....would that work on bright silver finishes as well or just on satin / raw finishes?

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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by MrBasseyPants »

I went to Target to search for glass cleaner...and found Sprayway (which is ammonia free) .....I polished up the 93 year old Jumbo sousaphone and then did a final coat with the glass cleaner.....I have never seen it look this good! Usually a nice damp wipe down does pretty good after a polish ( I use Wright's)....but this looked even better.....now I need to get more gigs to play this monster......it looks so good!

Image
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by Kirley »

MrBasseyPants wrote:
Image
That horn is beautiful! King?
She’s a real looker.
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by MrBasseyPants »

Kirley wrote: That horn is beautiful! King?
She’s a real looker.
Yup King Jumbo 1265 ....it's actually two horns....the valves were rescued from a very worn brass 4 valve 1265.... Dan Schultz and Anderson Silver Plating beauty-ified them for me.... from about a foot away...you'd never suspect they weren't original :)

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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by Wyvern »

bloke wrote:Were it that I owned a tuba that is similar to much more expensive tubas - yet much lower cost, I would assume (until I found out for certain) that the silver coating is not the thickest.
Just to clarify, as we are talking about a Wessex Chicago-York tuba, these are triple silver-plated, so will be a minimum of 18 micron, (against only 6 micron for regular Chinese made brass and minimum of 12 micron for most Wessex). As the silver-plating shop has the latest measuring equipment (looks like a bar code scanner), we know they are at least that specified thickness, as the silver thickness on every instrument is measured as part of the quality assurance. So the silver is similar thickness to most European made tubas and is no more likely to rub off. But all the same I would not recommend excessive polishing - a light wipe over with silver-polishing cloth once a week and polishing with metal polish only if badly tarnished.
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by Leland »

MrBasseyPants wrote:I went to Target to search for glass cleaner...and found Sprayway (which is ammonia free) .....I polished up the 93 year old Jumbo sousaphone and then did a final coat with the glass cleaner.....I have never seen it look this good! Usually a nice damp wipe down does pretty good after a polish ( I use Wright's)....but this looked even better.....now I need to get more gigs to play this monster......it looks so good!
Does it smell like Tarn-X? The quickest tortoiseshell-to-shiny results I've ever had came from filling a spray bottle with Tarn-X, spraying it all over the horn, then rinsing it off with a hose.

Usually, we used Windex and a rag for pre-performance touching up. I've also used the steam from an iron (easily available while ironing uniforms) and a rag. My usual polishing rag is a microfiber car rag that's got some Wright's polishing compound embedded in it from previous polishings.
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by iiipopes »

bisontuba wrote:Hagerty Silversmiths Polish Spray, 8 Oz....spray it on, let it sit, rub away the tarnish, use a garden hose to clean off, and dry...
Tarnish is silver sulfide. When you polish off tarnish, you remove silver. Maybe only on a microscopic level for each polish, but even that will eventually wear through.

The hot water/washing soda (not baking soda)/aluminum foil method creates a catalyst that causes the tarnish to break its chemical bonds, the sulphur ions to realign with the washing soda, and the freed silver ions to bond back to the rest of the silver plate to the horn in much the same way it was plated in the first place. This conserves the silver, so if any residual polishing is necessary, only a minimal amount of silver is removed rather than risking wearing through the plate with other polishing methods, which work great for solid sterling, but not silver plate.
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by Lee Stofer »

TarniShield Silver Polish by 3M is my method of treating silver plated instruments after a full cleaning, in order to preserve the silver plating for as long as possible. TarniShield is the least-abrasive polish I've used, and the tarnish preventative in this polish is not a wax, but rather contains silicones that seal the pores of the silver plating, largely eliminating tarnish by preventing the silver from being exposed to the environment. The silicones also decrease the scratching from friction, making it easier to wipe down the instrument with a soft cloth (no polishing cloth recommended, just a clean old t-shirt or similar), and even after 2 years, the instrument will clean up rather nicely with a soap-and-warm-water bath, needing very little polishing. In fact, the silicones are durable-enough that my silver plater will no longer attempt to silver plate over old silver for this reason. They tell me that the only way they know of for certain to remove these silicones is by stripping or buffing the plating off, down to the raw brass. To me, that is a pretty strong affirmation of their value. By using TarniShield, I find that my mouthpiece, washed daily in soap and water, needs polishing once a year if that much, and the tuba stays rather clean and bright just by regularly washing it in soap and water, and rarely needs any polishing.
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Re: Good way to clean a silver plated tuba without polish

Post by Bobmecum »

What about cleaning new silver plated instruments like the Wessex TC 694 Chicago Presence? It's not tarnished, it just constantly gets hand oils left all over the instrument and I hate using gloves. Would a window cleaner or like Don solution in a spray bottle work or does someone have a better method for new silver cleaning?
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