Letter 34014

Cleaning tarnished gold-plated metal on an antique banjo

+++++

I have just purchased a 1923 banjo, whereby the gold plating is tarnished. Do you have a recommendation on how best to clean it without causing any damage. 

My sincere appreciation for any thoughts/comments/suggestions you may have!!!   

Thank you,

Kris M name was deleted
Retail Sales - Sanford, North Carolina

+++++

Pure gold doesn't tarnish, Kris, so what you are probably looking at is the gold has gotten thin in spots. Whatever cleaner or polish you use will not be working on the gold, it will be working on the underlying metal through the porosity in the gold plate. Gold plating is very thin, so I would recommend a non-abrasive cleaner or you'll expose more of the underlayment.

The ideal thing to do is to have those components gold plated again by a plating shop. If that isn't practical you can try the Medallion Gold Plating System, which is an immersion gold plating paste for home use, although I haven't personally used it and can 't attest to how effective it is. -->

If you decide to try it, please get back to us with your assessment of how useful it was. (If the ad at right does not show Medallion Liquid Gold, sorry, it is not available on ebay on the day you are viewing this, so they replaced it with an ad for their most popular product of the day.


Ted Mooney, P.E. 
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

 

 

Dear reader

Post an answer
 
Post a question
 
Report broken links

Legal disclaimer boilerplate button

List of Directories
Jobshops Directory button Environmental Directory button Equipment Directory button Consultants Directory button Chemicals Directory button Test Directory button Help-Wanted Directory button About Advertising button Classifieds Directory button Booklist button

 

Link to Del.icio.us button Save This Page (why?)    -    Home    -    ©1995-2009 finishing.com