# Diy Silver Plating Chapter Ring ?



## dobra (Aug 20, 2009)

When I inherited this Body (Battle in Sussex) longcase clock in the late 70's, I restored the case, so it still looked old, but the previous owner's Daily cleaned the brass face with Brasso. Luckily, the black paint in the Roman numerals has remained. This single handed clock keeps time to within 1-2 minutes per day.

Can one re-silver the chapter ring without destroying the antique look, or is it better to leave it be?

Thanks

Mike


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## harryblakes7 (Oct 1, 2010)

Hi, you can re-silver but you do need a few tools and lots of practice to get an acceptable finish (trust me......), there are professional restorers who do this very well, the black paint is actually black wax which is melted into the engraved dial.

Not all of these dials were silvered so might need to do some research on the maker and close inspection of the dial to see if there is any circular graining on the dial

i would personally leave as is........... but each to there own :good:


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## bentleyT1 (Dec 12, 2010)

dobra said:


> When I inherited this Body (Battle in Sussex) longcase clock in the late 70's, I restored the case, so it still looked old, but the previous owner's Daily cleaned the brass face with Brasso. Luckily, the black paint in the Roman numerals has remained. This single handed clock keeps time to within 1-2 minutes per day.
> 
> Can one re-silver the chapter ring without destroying the antique look, or is it better to leave it be?
> 
> ...


I gold and silver plate, but that would be very hard to do as you do not have enough precision with what you are plating to do intercrite work like that, i would suggest leaving it or getting the dial restored.


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## clockworks (Apr 11, 2010)

Single-hander dials are normally brass, with an applied silvered brass chapter ring. It's a chemical process, not electro-plating.

Re-silvering a chapter ring is actually very simple. You can buy kits - silver chloride and finishing powder - from most clock material houses. The hardest part is re-doing the circular graining, but you can do this with a sanding block and a length of wood, kind of a home-made compass.

Once the graining has been done, rinse thoroughly to remove all traces of oil, grease and dirt, then rub the silvering paste on with a pad of cotton wadding. Rinse, and repeat with the finishing powder. Finally, protect the silvering with lacquer - I use an acrylic aerosol - then a couple of coats of furniture wax.


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## dobra (Aug 20, 2009)

Thanks for the info Steve, I found a kit costs about Â£50. Have mixed reactions to doing it yourself - good, piece of cake, - bad, ended up streaky. Professional restoration hard to find and probably megabucks at the end...... As the ring is in very good condition, but brass, I think I will leave well alone. Amen!

Mike


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## clockworks (Apr 11, 2010)

When done as part of a service, I'll do re-silvering for about the cost of buying a kit. Around Â£150 (plus parts, if needed) for a service on a 30-hour movement, another Â£50 to re-finish the chapter ring.

Streaking on the finished item is down to poor cleaning, while "spotting" is caused by impurities in the brass.

Some of my customers prefer to leave the chapter ring with a polished brass finish, as that's what they are used to seeing. That's fine with me. What I don't like is a badly discoloured silver finish, where the lacquer/wax has broken down, and the silver has oxidised.

Have you ever had the clock serviced? It should be done every 10 years or so, more frequently if the clock is rope-driven. Most people wait until it won't run, though.


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