MAW's Old time remedies. Silvering and Re-silvering mirrors.

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Mountain Art Works, LLC

Mirrors: Silvering and Re-silvering

Solution #1
Nitrate of Silver..........72 grains, Distilled Water...........1 pint, Ammonia,
26%..........to be used as directed

Take 1 pint of distilled water, pour 4 ounces of this into a glass, add 40 grains of Nitrate of Silver.
Dissolve the Nitrate of Silver thoroughly by stirring the water with a glass strip (no spoon, stick, or
metal should be used). When it is all dissolved thoroughly, take your medicine dropper and add
26% ammonia water into it one drop at a time; at first it will turn dark; keep dropping the ammonia
until it becomes clear again, which will generally take about thirty drops; stopping the addition as
soon as it clears.

Very often after dropping 30 drops of ammonia, it does not clear. In that case stir the solution
slowly with your left hand and continue dropping the ammonia with the right hand, one drop at a
time until it does clear, which it will generally do after dropping a few more times. If after dropping 7
drops more it does not clear (which takes 37 drops in all), do not drop any more ammonia, as you
are apt to spoil the solution.

Then add 32 additional grains of Nitrate of Silver. Dissolve by stirring with your glass strip. When it
is all dissolved, pour the mixture back into the pint of water first measured out. Let it stand for one
hour or more to allow the sediment to settle on the bottom. Then filter the solution through white
blotting paper; this blotting paper you should put into a funnel, cone-shaped, so that the solution will
have to pass through it before it can enter the bottle (any druggist can show you how to fold filter
paper). Put the funnel into the neck of the bottle, and proceed to pour the solution into the funnel. In
this way the solution passes through the blotting paper before it gets into the bottle, which is called
filtering. After the solution is filtered into the bottle it should look like clear water. Cork bottle tightly,
keep in a cool, dark place, and label it No. 1 Solution.

Solution #2
24 grains of Rochelle salts
25 grains of Nitrate of Silver (pure)
1
pint of distilled water
Take one pint of warm, distilled water, and pour it into a porcelain-lined
vessel, put it on the stove, then put 24 grains of Rochelle salts into it, and let this boil strongly for
about one minute. Then add 25 grains of Nitrate of Silver, let it boil for five minutes longer. Take it
from the stove, and allow it to stand for one hour or longer to let the sediment settle. As soon as the
solution is cool, it is best to pour it out of the porcelain-lined vessel into a glass vessel or another
porcelain-lined vessel, as the vessel that you boiled the solution in will be quite dirty. When it is
allowed to settle in another vessel, the solution will be much clearer when you go to filter it. You
want to bottle this solution the same way as you do the No. 1 Solution and label this one No. 2
Solution.

Note: This solution will boil away a little when preparing it, but do not add any more water to it.

HOW TO SILVER MIRRORS
In the first place a clean room should be used for the
work. Place the glass on a level surface, and bank the sides to prevent the solution from running off,
or place in a plating bath tube. It is not necessary that you have a steam table in order to make good
mirrors. By having your room at a temperature of 85 to 100 degrees F, and using warm distilled
water to rinse and level your glass with, you can easily get your glass up to a temperature of 90 to
100 degrees F, which will cause the silver to precipitate. The glass to be silvered must be thoroughly
cleaned as the least speck of dust, grease, dirt, or finer marks will show and cause you trouble.
Place wooden wedges under the corners of the glass having warm distilled water on the glass, and
change the wedges under it until the water lays in an even depth all over the glass; this is to warm the
glass and get it even. When you have the glass warm and level, raise one side or end, and gently let
all the water run off. Now lay the glass gently back in the same place. Then pour No. 1 and No. 2
Solutions into your traduate glass or glass pitcher in equal parts; stir them as quickly as possible with
your glass strip, and then pour them onto the glass by first starting at the center and letting them flow
out, then start at one corner and keep going around in a circular way until the entire surface of the
glass is covered. Let the solution lay on it in an even layer. Let the solutions stand on the glass for
about 30 minutes; then tip the glass on one corner on end and drain off the solution - drain all that
will run off; rinse the glass coating off thoroughly with distilled water, then stand glass on one end to
drain and dry. When dry, apply backing paint.
If the silver coating is not heavy enough, it
needs a second coat, which you can do by pouring on the solutions as you did the first coat, after
the first coat has been rinsed off with distilled water and allowed to drain for a few minutes. Do not
let the first coat get dry before putting on the second coat.
You will get a much heavier
coating of silver by putting the bottles which contain your solutions into hot water a few minutes
before you mix and use them.

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR GLASS

The best way to do this is by taking some polishing Rouge in powdered form, the same as jewelers
use for polishing silverware, or powdered prepared Whiting, which you can get at any drugstore.
Take the Rouge or Whiting, and put into a bag of two or three thicknesses of bed ticking or cotton
flannel and sew this up; then put the bag into water to soak up. Make a polisher by taking a piece of
wood 4x4 inches and about 9 inches long, and bore a hole at each end and near the top (for a
broom handle). The handles should be about 4 inches long on each end of your polisher so as to
allow you a good hold.

Then get some felt about one inch thick; if possible, use the same felt that harness makers use for
padding harnesses, which is about one inch thick, as it is best for this purpose. Then screw the felt
onto the bottom of the polisher with brass screws. Be sure that the screws are counter-sunk, so that
they will not come into contact with your glass and scratch it when you are polishing.

Once the felt is fastened on, put the polisher into water and let it soak. When polishing and cleansing
your glass, all you have to do is take the bag from the water, and squeeze a little Rouge or Whiting
upon the glass, then take your polisher from the water, and with both hands take the polisher by the
handles and proceed to polish the glass right to the edges. This will take about 10 minutes. When
glass is polished, rinse off with distilled water until it is perfectly clean.

To make good mirrors you want to use a good grade of glass. The German or American plate,
either double or single, are the best cheaper grades to use, as they are well polished and free from
defects. If your local dealer does not handle this glass he can easily get it for you. The Pittsburgh
Plate Glass Co., 622 Fort Duquesne Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA, is a very good firm to do business with.
They have branch offices in most of the larger cities. Check your yellow pages.

HOW TO MAKE BACKING PAINT

The very best backing paint that you can use is made by mixing equal parts of White Demer Varnish
and Asphaltum Varnish. If it is too heavy to work freely, add a little turpentine. Apply this paint to
the silver coating as soon as it is dry, with a camel's hair brush as lightly as possible, as the silver
coating can easily be rubbed off. One coat is enough but if you wish to apply a second coat you can
do so before the first gets thoroughly dry.

HOW TO REMOVE OLD BACKING PAINT AND SILVER

For removing old backing paint, take strong lye and put it in a little water, and pour this on the old
paint while the mirror is in level position; then let it stand up until the paint becomes soft. Take a
small mop and mop it up. Sometimes the paint is a little hard to remove, in which case you can take
a strong piece of cardboard and scrape it off by grasping the cardboard in both hands and pushing
forward with enough pressure to make the cardboard go between the paint and the glass. Another
way is to buy a can of Boston or other kind of paint and varnish remover, and use according to
directions. If the silver still sticks to the glass, pour undiluted nitric acid on it and let stand until the
back can easily be removed with a mop or a rag. Then clean your glass as directed.

ONE-WAY OR X-RAY MIRRORS

These mirrors, although new to the public at the present time, are old to manufacturers, having been
made and installed in designated places several years ago. These can be made in any one of three
ways.

(1) The ordinary mirroring solution is diluted from 50% to 75% with distilled water.

(2) In making the mirroring solution, use 1/2 to 3/4 less Silver Nitrate and Rochelle salts, but do not
reduce the amount of water used.

(3) The ordinary mirroring solution is used but let it set to deposit only half as long as you do
ordinary mirroring, and pour off the balance of the water. If a mirror is placed under the glass that is
being silvered, on an angle, the reflections of the results of precipitation will be clearly shown and
you can tell when to discard the water on the glass, as well as note the transparency.

When silvered, if held up to the face, it can be looked through from the front, seeing everything
clearly, but to anyone on the other side of the mirror, it looks like an ordinary mirror, showing their
image, and they are unable to see your features behind the mirror.

When silver is dry, varnish with a good transparent spar varnish, using a thin coat with a soft haired
brush. Collodion thinned with acetone is also used for backing. If either of these can be put on with
a spray gun it will be much better, as the danger of scratching on the thin coat of silver is reduced
greatly, if not eliminated. For greater safety and durability, place a glass of the same size over the
mirror back. This can be held in a frame with quarter round or smaller stock fastened with brads or
long, thin screws.

This type of mirror has been, and is still, in use in large hotels, institutions, roadhouses, blind pigs,
secret societies and lodges, night clubs, cars, by secret police, detectives, etc. A pane of this type of
mirror is placed in a panel of the front door. The visitor sees only an ordinary mirror staring him in
the face, but the one on the other side of the door can see through it and tell who it is without being
seen or opening the door. Usually a curtain or blind is pulled down over the glass from the inside so
that patrons won't notice it and talk out of turn.

SIMPLE METHOD OF RE-SILVERING DAMAGED MIRRORS

Pour upon a sheet of tinfoil three drams of quicksilver to the square foot of foil. Rub smartly with a
piece of buckskin until the foil becomes brilliant. Lay the glass upon a flat table face downward,
place the foil upon the damaged portion of the glass, lay a sheet of paper over the foil, place upon it
a block of wood or a piece of marble with a perfectly flat surface, and put upon it sufficient weight
to press it down tight. Let it remain in this position for a few hours. The foil will adhere to the glass.