Silver Plated Tea Pot Repair: Smart Pretreatment Advice

Summary for silver plated tea pot repair Discussion

silver plated tea pot repair is discussed as a plating problem on a teapot with a brass body and mixed-material knobs and handles. Daniel Hernandez first asks how to identify the non-brass parts and whether they can be plated directly, noting that the material seems soft, resists sulfuric acid, and may be lead, tin, zamac, or alpaca. He later reports that 30% fluoboric acid activated the material and it plated well, but he still wants the best procedure. Anders answers that the material is brittania metal and recommends cyanide copper as a great pretreatment for it. Daniel then says he will follow that approach and considers the problem solved. In a later question, Elizabeth Wheeler asks what alpaca silver is, and the reply explains that alpaca/alpacca is nickel silver with no actual silver content.

October 22, 2012

Q. I am trying to repair a tea pot, which is silver plated, the substrate is brass, but knobs and handles are a different material.

Well silver plated brass part is a piece of cake! But I am not sure of knobs and handles; I would like to know the best procedure to plate it.

Silver plated ware manufacturer F.B. Rogers Silver co 18 – 83 there is a crown in the middle.

Could be zamac? I am not sure because is welded into brass.

Could be lead? Is not poisonous to be used with dinnerware?

Is not aluminum because of its weight.

Alpaca? how can I know if it is alpaca, and as far as I know it can be plated directly, am I wrong about it?

It melts easy with small amount of heat;
when immersed in pure sulfuric acid, it keeps dauntless! It does not seem to boil, just turns a little bit darker.

Could be tin?

Any help about the material and procedure to plate would be appreciated.

F.B. Rogers silver plated tea pot 1

Thanks

Daniel Hernandez
– Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia

Q. Well I tried activating this material with 30% fluoboric acid and it worked well; it plated perfectly.
I know it’s not Zamak because acid does not corrode it; it is some kind of lead alloy. But still do not know the composition or the best procedure to plate it — I just did trial and error.

This tea pot is made of different materials all are plated with a thick layer of silver I think, so before proceeding I would like to know the best way to plate it.

Thanks

Daniel

Daniel Hernandez
– Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia
October 24, 2012

A. It’s brittania metal, Cyanide copper is a great pretreatment for this metal.

Regards

Anders Sundman
4th Generation Surface Engineering
Consultant – Arvika,
Sweden
October 29, 2012