How to repair inside of worn silver plated teapot?

Question

Silver worn off on inside from scrubbing (outside OK). Metal exposed & unhealthy. Is tinning inside practical? Other metallurgical solutions? (Silver plating seems very costly.)

To dmb: The prices I am getting for plating will buy me 1/2 of a sterling teapot. I care -- that is why I asked this question. But I want something practical for this situation.

This is a small piece by the way -- only holds 16-20 oz. Perfect for every day informal tea imbibing.

Note: I'm thinking of that non-lead tin solder type lining that is applied to copper cookware. It can be easily removed at a later time for resilvering. Any other
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX ideas?

A person's health who drinks out of this is more important to preserve than keeping this metal piece, that is not even sterling, pristine in a nonvisible area. If it is given away, the recipient will most likely use it 'as is' and be subjected to awful metal poisoning, which would not make it a very thoughtful gift. Please post your genious matallurgical suggestions.

Answer 1

You should consider/investigate electroless plating processes.

Hi-Phosphorous Electroless nickel is a continuous coating easily applied inside container/cavities like your teapot, and is reasonably affordable. Contains mostly nickel with a minor amount of phosphorous - the high phosphorous version is quite corrosion resistant to many acids except sulphuric. Low-phos and standard electroless are cheaper, but with lower corrosion resistance - these might work for you too - a little experimentation is worth doing. Check around for prices at the plating shop - coating quality varies a lot.

There is an electroless gold plating process too (of high purity), but you can imagine it is more expensive and is porous at the microscopic level, so doesn't give you the corrosion resistance you might otherwise expect. It is very possible to combine the two: modestly thin gold (10-30um) on top of nickel, and then you'd have a pretty good coating at a reasonable price.

There is an old 'tinning' plating process utilizing tin (Sn), but I think it is electrolytic and hard to put down inside a cavity like a teapot.

A silver-tin tinning "hot wash" is traditionally done inside copper pots (after acid cleaning) to provide a food-grade coating, but the teapot will have to be heated up quite hot (~200°C/400°F) to soldering temperatures, and this may play havoc with the existing silver plating, or even with the construction of the teapot (the spout may fall off).

For food-grade and chemical purity, consider some kind of polymer coating, but you'll have problems with the coating sticking, or you'll have to heat up the teapot pretty hot to cure the paint (check out "Teflon" or "Silverstone" coating services); there is a very remote possibility of an acrylic paint coating (solvent evaporation), but you'd need to know what was in the paint, or make the paint yourself.

Any way you approach this problem, however, is going to run into the problem of the cost of labor - the coating material cost isn't going to the be the high cost adder (mostly because the coating is so thin). Disposal of the plating fluids will be expensive too, so factor that into the cost as well.

By the way, you didn't say what metal was exposed - if copper, that is OK - copper pipes are used in household plumbing. Just clean up the copper and enjoy. Iron and aluminum is OK too, just keep everything scrubbed clean.

Answer 2

Firstly, if you really enjoy tea you should not wash a teapot. You should rinse it out.

Secondly, whoever scrubbed the inside of silverware should be shot.

Thirdly, if you value your silverware, never mind the expense, take it to a jeweller or other suitable specialist and have it resilvered. If you don't value your silver teapot please give it to someone who does before you bugger it up.

Answer 3

How about this third answer. I think it is better than the first one.

Do it very carefully.

Answer 4

By all means follow the first answer, he nailed it.