Maybe I’m late to the party on this hack

[tubanh84]

I honestly didn’t think this would work, but I had all the ingredients and was pleasantly surprised.

We have a silver vase that was very tarnished. I didn’t like the polish I used last time, so I figured try anything once.

I saw that mixing baking soda, salt, and boiling water in a bowl lined with aluminum foil would polish silver if you submerge the silver item in it. Damned if it didn’t work instantly. Didn’t even have to scrub.

Going to try my mouthpieces next.

[bloke]

Most people don't have a buffing machine - and not even a small one, but for those of us who do, it polishes silver plating quite quickly and for less expense and trouble than using up salt, baking soda and foil, as well as using up some gas or electricity to heat up water to boiling, but I totally get it, and ain't criticizing.
We also have some stinky sulfur smelling milky looking stuff (water-based) for when someone's tuba is completely black and they think that part of our job is to shine their stuff up for them (not really thinking about the fact that we are charging as much to do that mundane work as for the stuff that we do for them that very few people can actually do).
I don't have enough of that to drop a tuba into it, but I put on black industrial rubber gloves, dip a clean washcloth in that stuff, and go over a tuba. Every swipe instantly turns black to white on a silver plated tuba. Pretty soon, the whole thing is white, and then all you have to do is go over it with a high grade silver polishing cloth and turn white into shiny. (If I'm back isn't hurting too much, I might go back over the bell and bottom bow and top bow with the buffing machine so the tuba "pops".) It's a little bit off-putting when someone asked me to shine up their silver instrument for them, but I don't judge them, and I go ahead and do it (but they pay for it
).

[bort2.0]

My Martin Eb tuba (well, my son's now) is satin silver with polished silver highlights.

I don't particularly like the look of new satin silver, but heavily worn down, I think it's pretty pleasing. It doesn't get super dirty, it doesn't get super shiny, it just kind of looks real regular. The inside of the bell is really easy to get very shiny, and doesn't tarnish quickly. Five or ten minutes and it's good to go.

[York-aholic]

My Martin Eb tuba (well, my son's now) is satin silver with polished silver highlights.

I don't particularly like the look of new satin silver, but heavily worn down, I think it's pretty pleasing. It doesn't get super dirty, it doesn't get super shiny, it just kind of looks real regular. The inside has the belt is really easy to get very shiny, and doesn't tarnish quickly. Five or two minutes and it's good to go.

I’m glad to see he’s playing that Martin. :-)

[Nemo]

We also have some stinky sulfur smelling milky looking stuff (water-based)...
Every swipe instantly turns black to white on a silver plated tuba. Pretty soon, the whole thing is white, and then all you have to do is go over it with a high grade silver polishing cloth and turn white into shiny.

What would I have to search to find some of this? I haven't been happy with the results of the regular silver polish I was shown by my teachers

[bloke]

It's industrial powder that's dissolved in water. I have to keep a cover on it. It's lasted for years and years. I forgot where I bought it.

[tofu]

Most people don't have a buffing machine - and not even a small one, but for those of us who do, it polishes silver plating quite quickly and for less expense and trouble than using up salt, baking soda and foil, as well as using up some gas or electricity to heat up water to boiling, but I totally get it, and ain't criticizing.
We also have some stinky sulfur smelling milky looking stuff (water-based) for when someone's tuba is completely black and they think that part of our job is to shine their stuff up for them (not really thinking about the fact that we are charging as much to do that mundane work as for the stuff that we do for them that very few people can actually do).
I don't have enough of that to drop a tuba into it, but I put on black industrial rubber gloves, dip a clean washcloth in that stuff, and go over a tuba. Every swipe instantly turns black to white on a silver plated tuba. Pretty soon, the whole thing is white, and then all you have to do is go over it with a high grade silver polishing cloth and turn white into shiny. (If I'm back isn't hurting too much, I might go back over the bell and bottom bow and top bow with the buffing machine so the tuba "pops".) It's a little bit off-putting when someone asked me to shine up their silver instrument for them, but I don't judge them, and I go ahead and do it (but they pay for it
).

When you say buffing machine - are you referring to a bench buffing wheel or something else? That has got to be a lot of effort holding up a tuba with a bench buffing wheel. I’ve got a handheld orbital buffer/polisher for working on the cars - never occurred to me to try that on a tuba, but maybe I’ll give it a go. What would be an appropriate speed to not to exceed for a bright silver plate finish? This might also be useful for the frosted silver finish on the band's collection of pre-war satin silver King 1250’s. Those things are a bear - especially since they are mounted on the wall where they are directly exposed to the forced air heat during the winter.

[gocsick]

We also have some stinky sulfur smelling milky looking stuff (water-based)...
Every swipe instantly turns black to white on a silver plated tuba. Pretty soon, the whole thing is white, and then all you have to do is go over it with a high grade silver polishing cloth and turn white into shiny.

What would I have to search to find some of this? I haven't been happy with the results of the regular silver polish I was shown by my teachers

Thiourea-based silver dip (acidic silver cleaner).. It's an mix of thiourea + dillute sulfuric acid (Sodium bisulfate in the powder gives you sulfuric acid when mixed with water) They chemically reduce silver sulfide (Ag₂S) → metallic silver giving off sulfur containing gasses in the prices.

Haggerty Silver Dip or Wright's silver dip are a lower dilution consumer version of this.

[bloke]

What's odd about that solution being acidic is that if I accidentally get some of it on my hands, it does the same thing to my skin that a strong alkaline does (in other words, the same sort of thing that bleach or paint stripper does to skin), and if I do get it on my skin, the way that I found to avoid dealing with what it does to my skin is to quickly neutralize it with some sort of acid (such as cleaning vinegar, or maybe one that's barely stronger but one that doesn't actually burn skin) before all scrub really good with Dawn or something like that.

[gocsick]

@bloke This I had to look up but it tracks with your observation..

It chemically attacks organic sulfur-containing skin proteins and de-fats the skin surface. So same effect but different chemistry. You can probably skip right to to the Dawn and lots of running water. Good gloves are a great idea.

[Kevbach33]

I have a small container of Wright's silver polish. After learning about the baking soda/foil/boiling water trick, I no longer use the silver polish except in an emergency.

[tubanh84]

Follow-up: I looked at my shelf today, and I'm used to seeing all black mouthpieces on it (some I haven't used in 30 years; others 15). I had a row of shiny silver there instead. It was jarring.

[iiipopes]

Washing soda (sodium carbonate, not baking soda sodium bicarbonate) gives a better reaction with the aluminum foil and works quicker.

[shovelingtom]

I saw that mixing baking soda, salt, and boiling water in a bowl lined with aluminum foil would polish silver if you submerge the silver item in it. Damned if it didn’t work instantly. Didn’t even have to scrub.

Going to try my mouthpieces next.

That’s what i do. It works, uses cheap stuff i always have around the house, doesn’t remove any silver (only the sulfur), and takes like 2 minutes of my time. Win - win.

[bloke]

It seems to me that tarnish acts as a protective, sacrificial layer for silver by shielding the underlying metal from further corrosion.

I suspect the hand washing - along with rinsing off and drying a mouthpiece after use both greatly slow down the rate at which an in-use silver plated surface will tarnish.

Now that I'm playing a couple of (partially) silver plated mouthpieces again (after quite a few years of just playing completely steel mouthpieces), this is the tack that I use.
...Of course, I'm also the one who oils my instruments before every time I play them.

I've walked into some tuba players' homes with well over a hundred mouthpieces on display on top of a table (more than a couple such players ). Were they mine, I believe I would sell them, but - if I had that many silver plated mouthpieces, and wished to keep all of them - I probably put them in airtight ziplocs and probably a piece of masking tape labeling what they are. There are those little strips that are supposed to use up oxygen... I guess they work. (??) .

I do own several euphonium mouthpieces (probably because I'm not a good enough player to figure out which one I should keep and which ones I should get rid of ). Mostly, they just roll around in my sock drawer. As far as taking care of those, re-read the first sentence of this screed.

[Tubeast]

I use and recommend Poliboy silver polish.
(thick yellowish fluid)
Apply with soft sponge. No rubbing needed: You can apply with gentle taps.

No waiting time needed: the time you need to put down the sponge and grab a cloth to wipe the stuff off will be sufficient.

If less-than-perfect, but still pretty darn shiny and clean look is good enough for you, use a recently washed (!) discarded T-shirt to wipe.

[tubatodd]

I've been using Wright Silver Cream for 20+ years. I've had the same tub for almost that long. It works really well. If I am not mistaken, @Matt Walters was the one who recommended it to me. I believe it even works on raw brass.

[bloke]

Truth be told, I use a combination of very carefully polishing with a more aggressive polishing compound (small wheel / low speed), then jewelers rouge on another wheel, then Wrights Silver Cream combined with Dawn to clean them up and sort of final polish them while cleaning them.

I'm interested in results and speed, and all that stuff is right at my fingertips.

(If part of my job is to clean or polish an instrument in some way - and there's some sort of mouthpiece in the case that seems like it fits the instrument and would play the instrument, I'll clean it as well.