Comments on: past and present: history of the fork + collecting & care

By: shivani

shivani — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:50:49 +0000

i came upon this when i was google-ing for forks..

m not sure if someone has already mentioned this but tamarind can be used as an effective method to bring back the sheen on brass and silver ware :)

By: Elizabeth White

Elizabeth White — Tue, 11 May 2010 01:36:23 +0000

I just found this site by accident and LOVE it. I am interested in all the little trivial topics that no one seems to talk about anymore or even care about for that matter. I will be checking back frequently. There are great program topics.

As for the comment that Sue made about Martha Stewart recommending lemon juice and salt for polish, it was for cleaning and polishing copper. It does work. I don’t think it is meant for the lacquer coated copper,though.

By: Merri Cvetan, The Design Coach

Merri Cvetan, The Design Coach — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:52:08 +0000

According to “The Art of the Table” by Suzanne Von Drachenfels, the temporary placement of the knife and fork (in conversation), American style, the knife is laid on the right rim of the plate in the 4 o’clock position and the fork is rests near it ( but not parallel), tines upward.

When you are finished, flatware is place on one side diagonally and parallel. Handles in the four o’clock position and tips on the center of the plate toward 10 o’clock. This allows for a good grasp of the plate when clearing the table.

When setting the table American style, fork tines are upward because that is how we eat. The tines are downward in a Continental table setting.

It is the most complete book I’ve ever read regarding table settings.

By: Evan

Evan — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:31:14 +0000

Baking soda, ash, and toothpaste all work for the same reason; they’re abrasives. It’s a little like cleaning your furniture with sandpaper… it’ll work, but each time you’re doing a little damage.

Chemical polishes remove only the tarnish, and little or none of the underlying silver. As for their environmental impacts, I would posit that they are minor compared to most other things we do to bring a little beauty into our lives.

One thing to note – tarnish is silver sulfide; i.e. sulfur is needed to create it. Certain foods, like eggs, are high is sulfur – avoid using silver for these foods and you will avoid many tarnish problems.

By: SarahR

SarahR — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:59:45 +0000

Hey, conservator here! I don’t specialize in objects/silver conservation but in general here are a few things to keep in mind. Like AmyA said in her post, silver can be plated and alloyed with other kinds of metals, which means that the layer of silver can often be extremely thin, sometimes just a few atoms thick. Every time you polish to remove tarnish – silver sulfide, a chemical by-product of the silver reacting and oxidizing with sulfuric components in the air – you are removing a microscopic layer of silver. Baking soda, toothpaste, and similar home-made polishes are really pretty abrasive, so yep, you’re getting rid of the tarnish but you are also introducing tiny scratches and, over time and repeatedly, will remove details from highly decorated and intricate pieces. If you like your silver, don’t use toothpaste. Silver polishes are generally okay but follow the directions closely. Be very wary of using “dips” since these can be toxic. Store silver away from rubber, wool, and silk. Use the “anti-tarnish silver-cloth” storage bags, they are impregnated with silver particles and trick the sulfur in the air into reacting with them instead of your silver stuff.

Let me adjust my glasses and lab coat to say that one of the most fun, effective and simplest ways to remove tarnish from everyday* silver objects, is to do some electrochemistry using aluminum foil, hot water, and backing soda (sodium bicarbonate) to chemically reverse the silver sulfide back to silver. Don’t use any similar recipes that include salt since that can lead to pitting and other chemical interactions that will damage your silver. Here is a good set of instructions with some nice and balanced chemical equations for those of you so inclined: http://educ.queensu.ca/~science/main/concept/chem/c03/C03DEEA1.htm

Yay! Science!

By: Carrie

Carrie — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:36:44 +0000

Thanks for a great post! I’m actually writing my thesis on this topic. (well, history of how we went from one fork per family and one knife per person to the excess of Victorian 180-piece plate settings and now down to three to seven pieces per person pretty much across the board) The Cooper-Hewitt exhibit was amazing – I went to see it when it toured to Winterthur in Delaware. I’d love to see some posts on cars (history of the trunk? carhops and the American diner? driving suits?) and radios. I have a great radio cabinet from way back – and a water-proof radio for my shower.