Liquid Silver Plating Kit

I have a silverplate on copper tea and coffee service (teapot, coffee pot, sugar bowl, creamer, and tray) that was my grandmother's. It was past the point of being polished. Any attempts just resulted in more silver coming off.I looked in to having the set resilvered. Well, that would be ridiculously expensive- several times more than the whole set is worth, even in good condition. Since my grandfather probably picked up the set at a garage sale or swap meet, it would be contrary to their memory to spend that kind of money even if I had it.I came across this stuff and figured it was worth try. My silver tea service was unusable in the state it was in and all I had to lose was 20 bucks and a little time.I was SHOCKED that it works so well.No, it doesn't look brand new or like I spent a small fortune having everything replated, but it is shiny and looks great in a vintage/shabby chic kind of way and is totally usable!I followed the directions exactly. Don't skimp on the amount of solution, and the real key is elbow grease. You need to be aggressive with with the polishing. And it does take some time.The picture shows the sugar bowl as an after, and the creamer before. They were in the same condition before- you can see copper on the creamer.I'm quite satisfied.

My elderly Mom, God Bless her sweet soul, soaked a solid sterling silver Byzantine necklace and bracelet we gifted her a few years ago in a solution of bleach and water. Not only did she use this abrasive solution one should never use on precious metals, but she forgot about it and it soaked for a few days.Needless to say the jewelry was damaged. The platinum coating that these pieces were coated in had been eaten away and the pieces were akin to black rough metal.Before ordering this silver plating kit I did spend time with an anti tarnish product. It removed most of the black but I was left with what I think is mostly the base metal of silver. It was better then before but still not wearable.Now comes this amazing Liquid Silver Plating system and the results are incredible!First, the kit came with just about everything you need. I liked the fact that protective rubber gloves were included along with applicator sponge and soft paper (thicker than paper towel) polishing cloth.With just the first wipe I could see I'd have success with the plating adhering to the jewelry. Even with the intricacies of a chain with so many tiny crevices, the easy to apply lotion used with the enclosed sponge covered all the base dull metal. I did continue to polish after application which really brought out a decent shine and luster.I've posted photos as it's the only way to truly relay just how great this product performs.

I was able to use this kit to apply a corrosion resistant finish to some brass pieces, after some false starts that showed problems I had to figure out. The Liquid Silver product uses rubbing action to generate the electrical potential that bonds the silver to the base metal. It takes very little unevenness of the surface to defeat the effectiveness of the rubbing action. Any unevenness will result in the silver gobbing on the high spots and not bonding to the low spots. The effective surface prep consisted of sanding the surface with a unidirectional stroke using 1500 grit sandpaper, removing all coarser scratches and leaving a satiny surface, then rubbing the surface hard against the back of the sandpaper to remove microscopic sanding debris and smooth the surface slightly. Silver plate that bonds to tiny flakes of brass is not bonded to the surface and will flake off. 400 grit sandpaper leaves too rough a surface. Spread the product over the treatment area and it will turn black. Rub along the direction of the sanding stroke until the black turns gray, then rub, rub, rub with a paper towel or cloth.If flaking happens, the surface is uneven. The options then are to either start over or VERY carefully do spot applications with a Q-tip to minimize unevenness. If a perfectly smooth finish is desired, the only option is to sand and start over. Three applications will put a glossy silver finish over the base metal.The product is reasonably pleasant to work with - mild, no toxic fumes, not chemically aggressive or irritating, reasonably easy to control, cleans with soap and water. A little goes a long way. Hopefully a better understanding of this product will help others avoid the frustrations reported in other reviews.Considering what it takes to make this product work effectively, if someone is going to be restoring or applying silver finishes on a regular basis a brush plating or immersion bath kit is a better option. It's ok for a one-off finish restoration if the surface of the base metal doesn't present issues. Otherwise, the degree of surface prep required makes it impractical and what you save in money you will spend in time.

useless. doesnt work.

I bought an 80 year old silver plated trumpet. Although the plating was in excellent condition, there were a few spots where the plating was worn away. This product placed enough silver on them to hide the wear. It was adequate for my needs, but I doubt that even many, repeated applications would build up a layer of silver equivalent to much more expensive, professional electroplating. I don’t how durable the relsults will be, but I can touch them up if needed.I followed advice from another reviewer to give the solution a vigorous shaking before using to make sure the silver particles were evenly distributed in the solution. I shook it really hard for about 2 minites. I made 2 to 5 applications depending on effectiveness. Some spots took more effort to cover than others. The solution is capable of producing pleasing results, but it isn’t magic. You have to put in some effort.