Sterling Silver flatware on board - how well does it work?

[Jon D]

We are closing the house and moving on the boat. One question we are wrestling with rather than the stainless we've been using is it practical to use the sterling we got when we were married as our everyday service? The concern is maintenance and upkeep don't want to spend lots of time polishing but if we use it all the time how does it hold up. The other option of course is to store it.

[capt lar]

I think my wife would store it. She knows somewhere along the cruise I would trade it for an inflatable, new sail, or some other "needed" piece of gear.

Larry

[CaptainK]

Arrrrgggghhhh!!!

That's the spirit mateys. Trading is still a honorable business, even in this day an age.

So when yer have to dig into the tressure chest. You never know what you could barter fer.

Arrrrgggghhhh!!!

[CaptainK]

"Blues Brothers."

Great movie. A classic!!

[ssullivan]

My wife, as a stew aboard a large megayacht, spent a day a month polishing the flatware, plus one time a week just to maintain. This was in a very dry, fully air conditioned 100ft megayacht.

It will certainly be a lot of work. A new set of stainless might be a better bet. I'm sure there will be plenty of other projects to spend your time on.

[CaptainK]

Hmmmm?

I wonder if a can of "Brasso," works well on sterling silver. I know from personnel experience it works on brass!!

[CaptainK]

Can't argue with you on that!!

I'd rather be doing other things, than to polish brass. Or other metals?

[GordMay]

Our sterling & plate tarnished like mad. Ended up using only stainless.

ssullivan once whispered in the wind:
My wife, as a stew aboard a large megayacht, spent a day a month polishing the flatware, plus one time a week just to maintain. This was in a very dry, fully air conditioned 100ft megayacht.

It will certainly be a lot of work. A new set of stainless might be a better bet. I'm sure there will be plenty of other projects to spend your time on.

[Talbot]

Plastic Plates - standards seem to be slipping!

Personally cant stand them, and I know SWMBO would put them into the oven to warm them up at some point!

We have "arcopal" which is toughened glass if I recall correctly. We have only broken two plates in 18 years.

[Jon D]

Thanks all for the input

What's interesting posted this question on three sites. Two of the three had full time cruisers saying it's fine to use if you use it all the time. Here the opinion was a little different.

We decided to give it a try as we own the pieces and like it better than the stainless we have and it's a no cost option. We'll let you know how it works.

On the plate topic we ended up with a new set of plastic stuff cause all our real plates don't fit the cutouts on board. We did keep some older Corelle plates [which do fit] for warming stuff in the oven.

[lilly]

We have a set of Birks Sterling that my mother was given as a wedding gift. It used to be wrapped up in velvet sleaves. Now we use it every day with never any tarnish problem--------how/why? Simple, there are just two of use on board so we only use two settings. Two knives two forks etc. They are washed and wiped eveyday so no tarnish builds up. We never use the 'fancy' little spoons or the big ladels etc. When we have company we polish only what the company will use. The rest stay in their sleaves. They are rarely used/seen and yes they are tarnished. When my daughter inherits them she can polish them--------problem is she is planning a circumnavigation.

[hellosailor]

3M make wonderful "vapor deposition" strips of different kinds to prevent tarnish and rust on silverware and tools, also sold by gunsmiths to protect blued firearms in storage. They look like postage-stamp sized pieces of "wax" and act the same way that camphor/mothballs do, by sublimating at room temperature and forming a protective coatings on metals. The 3M chips don't smell, the mothballs are cheaper.<G>

[s/v 'Faith']

My fingers work well, clean up easily, and never tarnish......

... maybe collect some stray bits of 4200 from time to time but.....

[Entlie]

I dropped a stainless serving spoon overboard in the Bahamas few months ago. We searched but didn't find it (silty, current running, boat swinging...) It would have been pretty distressing if it had been sterling!

Entlie
Sailing Catamaran Sunspot Baby

[sluissa]

for polishing, I'm sure you can find the exact recipe online somewhere through google, but the easiest way I've found is to:

Take a glass serving dish, like a casserole dish or something, IT CAN"T BE METAL, anything non-conductive actually, plastic would work

line the bottom of it with aluminum foil and fill it with hot water, just under boiling point(be careful not to burn yourself

add a tablespoon or two of salt and baking soda, a bit more or less if you have an abnormally large or small container

stir it a bit, and here's the trick, lay your silverware in the container so that each piece touches both another piece, and the aluminum foil after about 30 seconds or so it's completely clean

you can leave it in up to a minute if you have really dirty pieces but no longer than that as it will start to wear away the silver.