[TheForge] removing silver from the back of a mirror.

[terry l. ridder]

hello;

awhile ago i had posted concerning an antique mirror that the wife
wanted to have resilvered. resilvering the mirror right now is not an
option so i have come up with an acceptable alternative for the time
being. strip the protective paint, the copper protective layer, and then
the silver. the protective paint came off easy enough with paint
stripper. the copper protective film came off again with paint stripper
and 3m heavy duty stripping pads. most of the silver has been removed in
the same manner.

now for the problem. the mirror is etched from the back. many of the
etchings are fine in detail there is no way for me to remove the layers
using a 3m stripper pad. so what would be a safe ( do not want to effect
the glass in any manner, i.e. etch the glass or scratch the glass) way
to remove the protective layers from these fine details.

once the mirror is completely cleaned the idea is to put an 1/8th
inch thick mirror behind this stripped mirror.

btw, upon removing the mirror from its frame i discovered the yellowed
paper label of the manufacturer and the date it was made.
normal glass and mirror company chicago, il march 1922.

another note of interest is that when you look at the mirror on edge
there is no greenish tint to the glass, it is clear. i found that
interesting.

-- 
terry l. ridder ><>