Polishing saddle silver

[JBCool]

I work in a western tack shop that sells used saddles and quite often their pre-store TLC has been a little lacking. I can get the leather & tooling looking pretty good, but so many of them I can’t get the silver shiny again. They vary from “Oh, that silver’s not bad: it’ll clean up” to pitted with a green-ish tinge. I have tried jewelry polishing rags, several different kinds of polish and Nevr-Dull, but most of them just. won’t. shine.

What do you folks that show with these saddles use? Or is it possible that I just get the ones with the silver too far gone to save? Thanks!

[ambar]

Nevr-Dull is always what we used. There are different kinds of saddle trim, however: sterling silver, “German silver”, and flat-out nickel. If it doesn’t respond to Nevr-Dull, I’d wonder what it was actually made of.

[sorrelfilly721]

I always used the Amway Silver Polish. Worked amazingly well. Sort of hard to get your hands on though now.

[Go_Fish]

Hagerty spray or pump bottle would be my first choice. I’ve been using this brand for probably 40+ years. Target used to carry it, but any jewelry store will usually have it. Western tack stores will also probably have it in stock.

My second choice would be Weiman’s.

If the silver is really tarnished, apply the polish with a soft toothbrush. This method will get the polish in the engraving. Let the polish dry completely then rub the bejeebes out of it with a clean terry cloth towel. A bit more work, but the silver will be gleaming.

Some people like to use rolled cotton to polish, but to me, it just adds a whole lot of extra work.

[UlysMom]

Magic Eraser.

I know, I didn’t believe it at first either. But my mom has a boatload of silver because she showed AQHA/PCQHA for years. She’s the one who showed me this on one of her saddles. It’s great because you don’t have to worry about any goop getting on the leather. And it works. It just does.

[JBCool]

Thanks, guys! I’ll try to look for some of those polishes and will definitely try a Magic Eraser. Wow, I hope that thing does it: that would be so so so simple!

[Go_Fish]

[QUOTE=JBCool;8072050]
Thanks, guys! I’ll try to look for some of those polishes and will definitely try a Magic Eraser. Wow, I hope that thing does it: that would be so so so simple![/QUOTE]

Be careful…you can’t use anything abrasive on silver as it’s very easy to scratch and expensive to replace. I’ve never used a Magic Eraser but I’d proceed with caution.