Featured Removing lacquer from sterling silver

Hi, can anyone please tell me how to remove lacquer from sterling silver? Presumably done to stop tarnish, but now yellowed and peeling. thanks in advance

 

If it's peeling, shouldn't it just peel off on its own?

 

No Shangas, unfortunately the edges are peeling in some places, but in other places it remains resolutely intact. I will chip away at the edges with my fingernail where I can, but this will take some time I fear.

 

Honestly, I would hesitate to use anything really aggressive on silver.

If you can find a gentle cleaner or something else that'll strip the lacquer without damaging the silver, I would do that.

I don't know why people bother doing this stuff with their silver. If you hate polishing silver, why do you own it? Just sell it. Hell, I'll take it if you don't want it. This stuff always confuses me.

And then you have the other guys who insist that if you polish silver, you DESTROY IT FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER!!

...Well which one is it? Polish, or don't polish?

 

I definitely won't use anything aggressive, I was hoping for something that would soften it to make it easier to remove, Totally! I don't polish my silver much - a bit lazy is the main reason - but it still looks fine. My father on the other hand, an octogenarian collector of many years, polishes his regularly. I guess it's each to their own.

 

OMG! thanks so much I Need Help (oops) that's awesome - one of the methods - boiling water - in their version with clothes washing liquid, in mine a dash of cloudy ammonia and a dash of dish washing liquid and the stuff just peeled off by itself. I suspect boiling water would have worked on it's own. (I use cloudy ammonia and dishwashing liquid with boiling water to clean jewellery so I knew it was safe).

 

Ammonia is great for loosening off gunk. I daresay in the right concentration it would do the same to the lacquer, without harming the silver.

 

Thanks Davey, I tried pure acetone on cottonwool, but get soaking makes the difference. In the end boiling water, cloudy ammonia and dishwashing liquid was fast and painless.

 

Great news! Enjoy your piece!

 

When I see something real dumb like enameling silver, I typically over-react and think only something really strong is going to help. But inevitably, good old hot water and soap usually works best.

I had a piece once where the owner thought that the silver would look better if it was gold and she spray painted it. And one (that I posted) where the lady wrapped her silver in plastic wrap and boy, did it stick. Both came remarkably clean with soap and water. Lacquer is a new one for me.

 

Crazy what people do. I saw a woman buy a gorgeous old drinks cabinet in a op shop one day and complimented her on it. She told me she was going to paint it white. Without thinking I rudely said "oh no"! Couldn't help it, it had parquetry on the front.
But with regard to lacquer might be more aptly called shellac, apparently not uncommon to deter tarnish and save having to polish!!!

 

People do some stupid stuff to their antiques in the name of "improving" them.

Like, if the piece is COMPLETELY trashed and can't be rescued, by all means, repurpose it to something else. But if it's still good, why on earth...I'm literally speechless.

 

I see plastic wrap a lot. It must have been a published tip. My least favorite is rubber bands. That stains permanently as far as I know.

 

Last time I checked, rubber bands stain silver because it has sulphur in it. The sulphur leeches out of the rubber and marks the silver.

I think it can be removed, but it's a REAL pain in the ass.