pInsuffi cient cleaning will lead to areas that
don’t coat smoothly. This is most common at
the edges of the mirror.ZA
NE
LA
ND
ER
S
skyandtelescope.com • JANUARY 2020 75
and have come up with a great one: A
product called Midas Tarnish Shield
(https://is.gd/mtshield) has proven, so
far, to protect silver from tarnishing
even under extreme exposure to sulfur
compounds, which is silver’s worst
enemy, without noticeably affecting
the mirror’s fi gure. Angel Gilding has
recently begun selling the same stuff
under the name Angel Guard.
Howard and Zane and many others
have become devotees of home silvering.
As aluminizing and postage costs con-
tinue to rise, it seems likely that more
and more people will switch back to
this venerable old method. If you have
a big mirror, or just want to undertake
the entire telescope-making experience
yourself, you might want to give it a try.
For more information, contact How-
ard Banich at [email protected] or
Zane Landers at [email protected].
Also check out articles by Howard, Peter
Pekurar, and Rob Brown that go into
much greater depth on the subject on
their website at https://is.gd/silvering.■ Contributing Editor JERRY OLTION
once tried chrome spray paint, but that
didn’t work so well.SHARE YOUR INNOVATION
º Do you have a telescope
or ATM observing accessory
that S&T readers would enjoy
knowing about? Email your
projects to Jerry Oltion at
[email protected].Get Off the Beaten Path in 2020
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