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Dial slivering


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When silvering a dial you are depositing silver salts onto the surface of the brass, this can look quite matte and dull grey the finishing compound is a very fine abrasive it lifts the lustre of the silver and makes it look brighter, usually the silvering salts come with a tub of finishing compound from most sellers on ebay. I have found that the silvering salts available on ebay are quite variable in quality the finer powders work better, some are quite gritty and not very good.

I have found this to be the best not cheap but it has done a fantastic job on many dials for me:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clock-Silvering-Powder-Trade-large-500g-PLUS-500g-Finishing-Powder/324107918063?hash=item4b76565aef:g:NwwAAOSweW5VBpzI.

The finishing compound can be applied when the dial has been washed and dried use a soft cloth or brush and lightly rub in much the same way one would use french chalk.

Edited by wls1971
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Cool. All done and quite impressed how well it works the dial is a half penny from 1963. My wife’s berth year, I turned it down to .4mm, buffed and polished it first, ultrasonic cleaned, acetone rinse and then the slivering.

 

F483BCC1-BDE9-4B11-89E3-89DBFD0E75C0.jpeg

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