Klarinet Archive - Posting 000514.txt from 1998/11

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] silver and rubber (was wolf tones)
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 1998 04:11:10 -0500

Hmmm. in that case, 1) why were they normally made with stainless steel
keys, and 2) why do they go greeny-yellow with age?
Surely it is (or was) not possible to harden natural rubber without
sulphur? This is why it's called "vulcanization", sulphur being
thought of as the typical product of volcanoes.
.
Roger Shilcock

On Fri, 13 Nov 1998,
Chuck Trimble CPA wrote:

> Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 15:15:59 -0600
> From: Chuck Trimble CPA <trimble@-----.net>
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] silver and rubber (was wolf tones)
>
> there is no problem with silver and hard rubber. there is no sulfur in the
> rubber clarinets. chuck trimble
> -----Original Message-----
> From: LeliaLoban@-----.com>
> To: klarinet@-----.org>
> Date: Friday, November 13, 1998 9:59 AM
> Subject: [kl] silver and rubber (was wolf tones)
>
>
> >I mentioned that the hard rubber "Carl Fischer" stencil clarinet I bought
> >recently turns out to have silver-plated keys.
> >
> >Roger Shilcock wrote,
> >>>Silver plating is a stupid thing to do on an ebonite instrument. The
> sulphur
> >in the rubber reacts with silver; this is removeable, no doubt, but in
> >removing it some of the plating goes too.>>
> >
> >That was also my impression, but now I'm wondering about the chemical
> >differences between soft rubber (as in rubber bands) and hard rubber (as in
> >clarinets, mouthpieces and fountain pens). I don't question the warnings
> >against letting soft rubber come in contact with silver. I've seen the
> damage
> >that results. For instance, one of my silver-plated saxes has permanent
> black
> >streaks from a rubber band that a former owner used to close a vent key
> with a
> >broken spring. (I consider myself frugal, but that's REALLY cheap!) Silver
> >polish won't take off those marks. I haven't found anything else that will
> do
> >the job without risking the plate.
> >
> >However, the fact is that although this rubber clarinet must be about half
> a
> >century old, the silver plated keys are undamaged, despite moisture
> conditions
> >inside the case that permitted other types of corrosion, though it wasn't
> >extensive. The case needed cleaning up, the corks and pads needed
> replacing
> >and I removed minor rust from some of the screws and screw holes.
> >(Fortunately the threads were all right. WD-40 released the screws.) The
> >blackening of the silver in the tight places (between the trill keys, for
> >instance) was ordinary tarnish. It came off easily with silver polish. I
> >found nothing like the damage that I've seen elsewhere from rubber bands.
> >
> >I also own several old hard rubber sax and clarinet mouthpieces with
> ligatures
> >and caps plated with silver both inside and out. The silver shows none of
> the
> >characteristic damage, despite decades of direct contact with the hard
> rubber.
> >My husband collects old writing pens. Some of the hard rubber ones from
> the
> >early 1900s have decorative bands and silver filagree applied directly and
> >tightly to the rubber. He finds no damage, either on the surfaces that
> >contact the rubber (filagree) or the ones separated by small amounts of air
> >space (clips). He thinks that something about the manufacturing process
> locks
> >up the sulfur in hard rubber and makes it less likely to interact with
> silver.
> >Maybe someone with a better scientific background than mine can explain
> >further.
> >
> >Lelia
> >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >"A general flavor of mild decay,
> >But nothing local, as one might say."
> >--Oliver Wendell Holmes, "The Deacon's Masterpiece"
> >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
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> >
>
>
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>
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