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What do you think, is it serious? Scratch or crack on the neck?

3K views 23 replies 15 participants last post by  jerrywramsey 
#1 ·
#3 ·
Scratch is my vote...... if a neck was cracked like that, it would show some other signs of damage...a dent, a stretch mark.

If you can get a leak light in there (and it'd have to be a narrow one) you could see if any light shines through, OR (I doubt this, but) if you can get a fingertip up the neck tube and behind it, you can feel if there is anything interior.

....but based on your pic there I would say not a crack.
 
#10 ·
+1.

I also wouldn't bother doing anything.

Yes, being solid silver it will burnish and buff out, and it'd likely end up a 90%+ removal with zero signs remaining that it was ever there (as there would be, say, on a brass lacq or even silverplate neck) - but it wouldn't be a 10-minute job ....and it'd probably best be left to a tech who is good with that sort of work.
 
#17 ·
It looks more like an inclusion in the metal, than a scratch, to me. I don't see how a scratch in a solid piece of metal could be so narrow, and look so dark. If it were a plated metal, I could see where it might be a scratch. Find someone with a microscope if you really want to know. Maybe try a local jeweler?
 
#19 ·
It’s highly unlikely that this is a crack! If the neck were cast (which they aren’t) I could see how a blow might crack the more brittle metal.
 
#20 ·
Looks like a scratch to me but I'd be trying to buff it out even if buffing just minimises it rather than being totally removed. That's just me and I'm a bit anal with new stuff....if it was an old/er neck that already had marks, I wouldn't bother.
 
#23 ·
In my experience, buffing is effective for tiny and shallow scratches in the material starting with tripoli and then finishing with red rouge or blue hubble which is less messy. For deeper scratches the buffing wheel removes minute amounts of material not only from around the scratch, but an equal amount inside the scratch as well. It is similar to the experiment where a penny is left in an acid solution for a long period of time till it is very thin. The portrait of Lincoln is just as clear and visible as when you started since metal was removed equally from all facets of the surface.

The most effective way of removing deeper scratches in a soft metal surface is to use a flat sanding pad such as hobby sanding sticks and sand the entire area around the scratch first one direction and then in a perpendicular direction. Each repetition is done using a finer and finer grit up to about 800, at which buffing with tripoli and a finishing compound will take it to a mirror like shine. On a solid silver neck, burnishing is the best way since metal is not removed, but simply moved, however there are few techs or other professionals with the skills to do it perfectly. It is definitely not a do-it-yourself task.
 
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