Cleaning Pewter or Silver Spoons.

[99*]

WOULD ANYONE ON THIS FORUM KNOW OF METHODS TO CLEAN PEWTER SPOONS OR SILVER SPOONS THAT ARE HEAVILY CAKED IN BLACK SULFIDE AND CORAL? MY FRIEND AND I HAVE FOUND A SANDBAR COVERED IN SPOONS,MAYBE FROM A MERCHANTMAN OR INTERISLAND TRADER.? I WILL BORROW A CAMERA TO SHOW BEFORE AND AFTERS:>? THE SANDS SHIFT WITH GREAT VARIABLES AND THE SPOT MAY BE GONE BY NEXT SWELL. 99*

[wreckdiver1715]

99*, First welcome to the original TreasureNet Shipwreck Forum. I am sure that you will find lots of good information at this site, and hopefully the answers to all of your questions. For the answers that you are looking for, I want you to visit the Artifact/Coin Cleaning & Preservation forum. But first, let?s get those spoons soaking in some fresh water before you do anything else, this is going to take a little while before you start the preservation process.
Second, turn off your caps lock, all caps indicates hollering.

Q

[99*]

Thank You, No Hollering, I will look at the forum.99*

[treasurediver]

Here are some pics of Pewter spoons. The clean ones I recovered from the English slave ship Henrietta Marie (1699) near Key West. The uncleaned ones I recovered on the Dutch Galeon "Utrecht" (1648) in Brazil.
For the cleaning I used an electrolytic bath, using baking soda for electrolyte and 12 V battery power.
Treasurediver