Hello everyone:
Of late I have been annealing, cutting, sanding and polishing old
silverplate flatware and forming spoons and folks into jewelry
components. It occurred to me that/hundred year ol/d silverplate
silverware might have some very nasty hard metals that make up the
interior of the silver plated flatware. Does anyone know if it is
dangerous to anneal and sand nickel, tin or lead? I am hopeful that
there is no silverplating covering lead but cannot be certain. The
silver plated spoons and folks are not easy to bend, and that is why
I am annealing them, which leads me to believe they are not composed
of lead. When I cut the pieces I see bright silver color which does
not dull when exposed to the air. Just thinking about all those years
of acid type food and the leaching that might have occurred with
these pieces of silverplate is a bit unnerving. I use an N95% mask
and have an exhaust system (abet not as effective as a professional
studio but as effective as I can create.) As I have said before on
this forum, I have some breathing issue and lost my huband to lung
cancer, therefore I am very concerned with toxic chemicals. Any
regarding what the risks are for nickel and tin would be
great. Also, does anyone know what the general metal makeup of old
silverplated silverware might be?
Regards