Silver strip not stripping

Steven Vigeant · Post by **Steven Vigeant** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:02 am

I waited a couple months to try to strip off some liquid silver, and I used some stripper that I finally tried to use that has been sitting since Micro. It didn't take much off. Did the Silver set up extra tough, or does the stripper get old? I guess Letterhead panels and 3 kids don't mix too well. What do I do now?

Larry White · Post by **Larry White** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 10:19 am

I haven't known silver strip to have a shelf life, although it can be mixed to varying strenghths. I mix it up, not quite orange juice color. Try some silver strip on some cotton with a few swipes over your bon ami bar, then gently scrub at the silver to see if it will come off. ...and yes, I believe the longer it sits, the stronger the bond gets (up tp a certain point). If that doesn't work, you could try muriatic acid, but go easy, a little at a time, wiping it off as soon as the silver is removed, so as not to undercut your backing paint. Hope that helps.

-LW

Sarah King · Post by **Sarah King** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:24 pm

Silver Strip does not have a shelf life but if your glass has been sitting around awhile it may have acquired a thin layer of grease/dust/smog something that is blocking the action. As Larry says, the abrasive in the Bon Ami should help. You can also make a paste with silver strip and pumice (to save on Bon Ami). Q-tips are very handy for working around the letters.

The silver layer will not get stronger as it ages - if anything it gets weaker as it oxidizes. Silver dissolves completely in nitric acid but I sure would be careful with that. Muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid which will react less with silver than the nitric acid.

If you are interested, we have a new two part silver strip that is much less toxic than the old stuff. It's not on our website yet because we are hoping to develop a powdered form to save on shipping. Let us know if you'd like to try it in its current liquid form.

Also the "receipe" for the old silver strip - the orange one - is 1 avoir ounce to 1 quart of tap water.

Steven Vigeant · Post by **Steven Vigeant** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:52 pm

Sarah
I'll order some of that new stripper right away.
Thanks a lot.
Blake and Whitey really had me terrorized over the earlier version. I know it takes alot
to rattle those guys. Now I'm going to curl up with the AngelGilding catalog and get some rest
Steve

Kent Smith · Post by **Kent Smith** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:42 pm

I was having the same issue and was on the phone with Sarah experimenting with pumice which worked so much better than BonAmi. I find that letting the silver strip soak a while helps to break down the silver. However, BonAmi worked fine after backup with the silver strip which is good because pumice would be too aggressive for some of the fine lines.

Kent Smith · Post by **Kent Smith** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:21 pm

I was just scrolling down and realized that I had not posted an update. Sarah sent me some of the two component strip and it is far superior to the olde stuff. Just a light wipe with dampended cotton will dissolve the silver, no rubbing or abraisive needed. It is especially good over fine lines and the rough areas of chip etc. I can cleanup a 2' square size project with just 10 ml of the mixture. It is almost like waving a magic wand at the silver, it works so much better.

James Warwick · Post by **James Warwick** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:51 am

Steven...
My question is how did you put the silver on the glass?

I am just starting to pour metal so I'm interested different techniques.

In my life adventures I read about pouring mirrors as follows.
Clean glass, make 2 batches of chemicals, heat one batch. then tin as usual, water rinse, mix and pour the room temperature batch, water rinse, mix and pour the heated batch, and air dry.
I tried it the last time I poured silver and I think I got a more brilliant mirror.
The next time I pour, I plan on doing 2 pieces of glass side by side and compare.
This reminds me of the hot flow coat that some people use when glass gilding.

When scrubbing the silver, could the tin (SnCl2) mix ratio make a difference when removing the silver? Diluted Nitric would never fail to remove the silver because it dissolves the silver, but it may clean everything else off the glass also!!

Sarah King · Post by **Sarah King** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 10:47 am

Hey Kent,

Thanks for the beta testing and thanks very much for the favorable review.

We haven't got the formula into powdered form yet, but the new liquid formula should be up on our website today or tomorrow. Isn't it great when you can find a new formulation that works well AND is less toxic than the old stuff? We also have a new, less toxic Copper Remover. The Silver Remover does not remove copper or galena. The new Copper Remover only removes copper. This could lead to some interesting new techniques, if only I could figure them out.

PS Larry asked some time back if you could silver directly over the copper. The answer is yes - it works great - just like silvering over the gold except that the silver does not show through. A copper glue-chipped line on a silver background is gorgeous and has a much higher contrast than a gold line on a silver background.

Steven Vigeant · Post by **Steven Vigeant** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 11:37 pm

James,
Larry White silvered the piece on his tailgate with I think Angel Gild Silver. And he makes it look so easy, but I left it on for 6 months. It's still on there, but now there's the magic solution that I gotta try. There's tons of info about it on Angelgilding.com

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