Next Generation Service Squad

German Silver sinks

Made is the USA!

How to Keep German Silver From Turning You Black

Instructions

Things You'll Need

White vinegar
Antiperspirant spray
Clear nail polish

1

Remove existing tarnish from the item: mix a solution of 25 percent white vinegar and 75 percent water, and soak the item in the solution overnight. Wipe the tarnish away with a soft cloth, and rinse the item.
2

Wash your hands with soap and water before touching German silver to eliminate perspiration and residues from topical skin treatments.
3

Apply an antiperspirant product to your hands to prevent sweating.
4

Avoid sulfur-containing topical skin products and treatments such as mud baths. If you're using a sulfur-containing cream to treat arthritis or acne, ask your physician or dermatologist about alternative products that don't contain sulfur.
5

Coat the inside of a German silver ring with clear nail polish, and allow it to dry before wearing it. The nail polish will prevent your skin from making contact with the jewelry.

Where did German Silver sinks originate?

These sinks were never made in Germany and did not originate from the 1800's, in fact Germany has nothing to do with German Silver sinks at all, just the metal.

German silver was first known and used in China. It became known in the west from imported wares called bai-tong or pakfong (白銅, literally "white copper"), for which the silvery metal colour was used to imitate sterling silver. According to Berthold Laufer, it was identical with khar sini, one of the seven metals recognized by Jābir ibn Hayyān.

In the 18th century, researchers found it was a copper-nickel-zinc alloy . In 1770 the Suhl (Germany) metalworks were able to produce a similar alloy. In 1823 a German competition was held to perfect the production process: the goal was to develop an alloy that possessed the closest visual similarity to silver. The brothers Henniger in Berlin and Ernst August Geitner in Schneeberg independently achieved this goal. The manufacturer Berndorf named the trademark brand Alpacca, which became widely known in northern Europe for nickel silver. About the same time in 1832, a form of German silver was also developed in Birmingham, England.

After 1840, the development of electroplating caused nickel silver to become widely used. It formed an ideal, strong and bright substrate for the plating process. It was also used unplated in applications such as cheaper grades of cutlery. Elkay produced the first German Silver sinks in 1906, not in Germany in the 1800's.

What is German Silver?

German Silver
is an alloy of nickel, copper and zinc and provides a warm glow when polished to a mirror finish. Historic sinks were crafted using lead solder and built around pine boxes. German silver, also known as Nickel silver , Argentann, new silver, nickel brass, albata or alpacca is a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver is named for its silvery appearance, but it contains no elemental silver unless plated. The name "German silver" refers to its development by 19th-century German metalworkers in imitation of the Chinese alloy known as paktong. All modern, commercially important nickel silvers (such as those standardized under ASTM B122) contain significant amounts of zinc, and are sometimes considered a subset of brass.

Looking for German Silver?

If you have exhausted your efforts in trying to find German Silver coil, fear not. I have the one and only source for German Silver coil in up to 27" wide, which is perfect for sink, counter top or range hood fabrication. Use the "Contact Us" link if you are interested.

Get your own plans and templates here!

You get a complete set of plans for building a 42" wide by 25" deep apron front sink. You also get detailed instructions on how to manufacture sections and how to assemble. The most important part is material source for 27" wide German Silver coil stock.
You get all this as well as technical support for 6 months while you perfect your creation.

Use the Contact us link to get pricing and whats included in the package
available for building your own style of German Silver sinks.